o..\^^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


I 


Ui|2j8 

US  ^ 

m  m 


1^ 

2.2 


Hi 


14.0 


L25  mi  1.4 


■  2.0 

■  1.6 


6" 


ffiotogrephic 

Sciences 

Corporalion 


23  WIST  MAIN  STMIT 

WUSTIR.N.Y.  14SM 

(716)  •72-4903 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


4 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibtiographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couvertura  de  couieur 


I     I   Covers  damaged/ 


D 


D 


0 
0 


D 


D 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicul^e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le 


titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couieur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couieur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couieur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadow*  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrde  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout^es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte. 
mais.  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  ^X6  filmAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


The 
tot 


L'ir  ^  .'itut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqute  ci-dessous. 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  de  couieur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 


□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 

0    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolordes,  tachet6es  ou  piqu< 


The 
pos 
oft 
film 


Orii 

beg 

the 

sion 

oth( 

first 

sion 

or  i 


Pages  ddcolordes,  tachet6es  ou  piqudes 

Pages  d6tach6es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  in6gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materit 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppldmentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  ddition  disponible 


I      I  Pages  detached/ 

r~~^  Showthrough/ 

I     I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I  Only  edition  available/ 


The 
shal 
TINI 
whi( 

Map 
difff 
entii 
begi 
right 
requ 
metl 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  i  nouveau  de  facon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


SOX 


^ 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


ire 

details 
es  du 
modifier 
er  une 
filmage 


es 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —»>(  meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
g^nirositA  de: 

Bibliothique  nationale  du  Canada 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  netteti  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim^e  sont  f  ilmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commengant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
fiim^s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


errata 
I  to 


)  pelure, 
on  d 


n 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

1  2  3 

4  5  6 


TH« 


i- 


NEW-ENGIAND  PATRIOT : 


5i^ 


m        BlIlfGA 

CANDID  COMPARISON, 


OF 


THE  PRINCIPLES  JiiTD  CONDUCt 


■# 


OF  THE 


ASHINGTON  AND  JEFFERSON 


k. 


ADMINISTRATIONS. 


THE  WHOLE  FOUNDED  UFON 


rilSFUTABLE  FACTS  AND  PUBLIC  DOCUMENTS, 


TO  WHICH  REFERENCE  IS  MADE  IN  THE  *.■ 

'     ■  ¥■  S 


TEXT  AND  NOTES. 


•R£AO  AND  DIIBEUEVE  IF  YOU  CAtr..>BUT  READ, 


n        X 


*it 


"  '•  .-«c>4aei»o>«^ 

'^  * 

'       BOSTON ; 

.  '.\  ■  ■' 

PlitNTED  BY  RVSasLI.  AXD 

CUTLER.                             ^ 

1810. 

.'A 


^H 


1A- 


u  >■ 


t^ 


:% 


lti'?»-«ts''<M*.,  :l»:,^6w# -j.li 


-.1. 


4>■•^^  ■  </*i^:fl' 


iUUi 


Tm 


^ 


xifiU- 


,-iifeWM 


•W  ■'!«*,  if 


aV 


...  ;,*^f 


if 


*? 


n 


A 


T«. 


¥AB£E  of  teONTENTS. 

mrJoencral  Jdeai^n^^^^t  HOStlMT^  TO 
\  m     ■   '        '     '  ©REAT  BHil^igBNkr 


i!?- 


9S 

«7 


I  -  ■ 


35 
39 
38 


3.~tS  .tte^rACTsraM^^^        ^^ 

58 


6. — Neglect  to  nolwd^l 

.• ;~.  18.— Diaregtrd  of  the  mu-,—  _^,-^«,,~.^  -„--.  --.        ,. .  ;.j  -^if^i; .  ,j! 

'      .,«»        -wtMsoa.-'      --    ■       -   ^.t^MmthiO  ■■':■■'■■■  .!  .,,•;■■''';■ 

4iia«%iWPi>e«ioa  Qfow Corrij^a&^g^yw FrfiMje.  - ., 


*; 


Smi^!  SSSt  a«W^»»  rert»rt  wi.  Ae  Conduct  i*  tlie  .«yeral  J 


72 

'73. 

74 

77 


■iif  v>»#r 


'?7 


■"'■^■'%i#* 


2!Wrrf  General  i»«,tf>-JRO#i'i#- HO^I^TY^  TO 

COMMERCE.  **  - 


iVfo/i.^ijdpikMition  to  the  funding  system. 

J  g__  ri—        Yo  the  NatirtMl  Bank 

3_      .  ToaNa 


-      *  90 

9i  % 


93 


WAeto  re«ti«nlni£ootnfcerce,  called  by  Mr.  Madi«6n,  "  the«xereiar  of 
V       ourWrtrtrictiveBilergie*.**         .       -       -       -       "*'„'- 
^fi.— Hatted  and  Conteimptfrf Merchants,  and  the  Meroantifc  SUtes^ex- 

pn^lnCongTdwVfr»en«'«of«^  "        "        JSd 

lteRetkm»ontiM!thHge»»e™'Bwi*-    .1    *•    «      :      '      }^^ 


',  4'- 


;  r-  \'i,' 


ir 


.'jf 


"^f.. 


"    -.  .iV. 


*.. 


C"^ 


FouriA  General  iXpatf^THE  NATIONAL  TREASURY 

I  by  » .Piitip^lj^.iqr  Conmoctf.;..  ;»• .   Ill 


•^  ■'- 


imK  Getmul  iYrac/.— VIOLATION  AND  GONtSlMir  OF 
THE  06NSTITUTI0N  OF  THE  UNITED  STAT^iB. 

,  i^WlJ-^^kUting  V«faB«Uw  Md  '  ftWag  Uien  «p  b  th*  tUmtr^it  the 

9— Ch|ji|e  of  ill>[|t'CoprtMiWt  to  it|>i>t|ir.  J<ftw«if»  glt>«kii  IM 

iZ^SlSSTrnthe  Jadp»or3M8ipr«iM(^ 

5<-.VIoUtfon  of  the  tAtUt  ik»mtkm  Hataw Cac|W^ A  Fa«^Mi#kili 

attempt  to  obtain  the  wupittlioa  of  it  by  Law:  •  •  <.  .  lis 
6.F-4)reatinfOAeet|»IUtheii|.  .!  -i'  ^  •  .-  .  .  t  ,  ,196 
T.'^Bmbarco  and  enlMreias  aet  of  Jan.  9,  1809,  wero  direet  TiohtkMu 

9i>--^t<q^ngtheBroaBeatioliafalQnl)iiane.  149 


4 


PrM^l^Umadm^  ftaa»  oAeo  bv  Piwatdw^t  J«|||noi|. 
*"  9.— The  fiuipQsli«99rt  pr%«|  liiuMln  aiid*«dwn  ofti 


I 


.         .         130 

,_ ^   JOftheCoQMil.  139 

5.— Jidp^lUy  Gfeen'i  Ceamfaddn.       -  •>       •      .^^     .  -    ib. 

e^fhe  mmreirioik  of  the^^iiiiMM  of  the  JoMoee  of  CotaMbis 

SYStjpi  OF  TI£E  ADMINISTRATION  ON  ^^TfitlC 


»*9iM«i9v 


135 


1- 


* 


,%. 


^ 


,V  A, 


!^ 


,^Si. 


#■ .' 


^ 


4^ 


■x« 


-'t^._ 


'.1' 


// 


.1-f 


TO    THE 


aOWBST  AND  WELL  Of  8F0SXO,  PART  OF  TRB 


PEOPLE  OP  MASSACHUSETTS. 


AN  ANSWER    TO  THE    QUESTION, 


■!  iai  1  w 


y  are  youaJF^deri^i^f 


.'», 


_r.    <:>.r■rt^■)!■t  'r-  ,Si',Hi?!>V-t  fc,1'»t>V'1^i,>,5't-j •,«!(., 


CvERY  honest  and  nondurable  man  woukt  not 
only  wish  to  be  perfectly  correct  in  his  opuiions  upon 
our  publick  affairs,  but  he  would  desire  to  be  able  to 
give  the  reasons,  to  state  the  facts,  and  fiif hish  tliQ  evi- 
dence irf  Isuppb^  of  those  dpinions.  ?  i-*bi.iH  \syt    .  a 

The  distinction,  between  the  two  jJartie^  which  agi- 
tate oiir  unhappy  country,  is  in  no  one  respect  more  ob- 
vious, than  in  the  different  manner  in  which  their  opin- 
ions are  formed,  and  the  greater  or  lesser  degree  of 
evidence  with  which  they  are  satisiied. 

While  the  misguided  dupes  of  the  democratick  par- 
ty are  perfectly  contented  not  only  to  form  their  theo- 
retick  notions,  but  to  act  in  the  most  important  concerns 
upon  tlie  mere  assertions  of  their  leaders,  often  unfound- 
ed in  point  of  fact,  and  always  discoloured  and  distort- 
ed, it  has  been^  and  we  trust  it  ever  will  be  the  pride  of 
all  federalists  to  require  substantial  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  any  important  propositions  which  may  be  ad- 
vanced even  by  those  in  whom  they  place  confidence. 


Y    ' 


It  is  impossible  for  publick  bodies,  in  expressing  their 
opinions  on  publick  af&irs,  to  enter  into  all  the  details 
of  evidence  which  have  cotitributed  to  form  those  opin- 
ions ;  and  it  would  perhaps  be  derggatory  for  aisemblies, 
who  represent  the  sovereignity  of  the  state,  to  presume, 
that  any  collateral  proofs  would  be  requircid  to  justify 
the  sentiments  which  they  may  think  proper  to  ex- 
press. 

But  individuals  are  not  restrained  by  any  such  deli- 
cacy,  and  they  ought  to  recollect  that  the  people  at 
large  have  not  the  means  of  collecting,  combining  and 
comparing  a  vast  and  multifarious  assemblage  6f  facts, 
spread  throughout  a  great  variety  pf  documents,  and  to 
be  brought  together  from  distant  periods  of  time,  so  as 
to  enable  them  to  discover  their  connection,  their  mu- 
tual dependence,  and  thus  to  unravel  the  psinciples 
and  motives  of  any  particular  faction  which  may  have 
acquired  a'temporary  ascendancy  in  the  country. 
/  Perhaps  there  could  not  be  a  more  correct,  perspi- 
cuous and  interesting  view  of  the  situation  of  our  coun- 
try, with  respect  to  its  foreign  relations,  than  will  be 
found  in  thd  report  of  the  committee  of  the  two  houses 
of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  at  their  present  ses- 
sion. There  are  however  subjects  to  which  their  com- 
mission did  not  extend,  which  have  nevertheless  an  in- 
timate connection  with  their  report,  a  great  multiplicity 
of  details  And  particulars  to  which  neither  the  time,  nor 
the  dignity  of  legislative  proceedings,  would  permit 
them  to  descend. 

It  is  with  the  view  as  well  of  vindicating  the  general 
principles  of  the  Federalists  as  of  supporting  the  opin- 
ions expressed  by  the  legislature,  of  justifying  the  lu- 
minous, results  which  they  have  drawn,  and  of  convinc- 
ing the  friends  of  our  countiy  that  our  state  rulers  were 
fully  authorised  in  the  expression  of  their  fears  of  the 
tendency  of  publick  measures,  that  it  has  been  thought 
expedient  to  exhibit  a  plain,  unvarnished  statement  of 

This  will  be  founded  upon  publick  acknowledged 
documents,  to  which  references  will  be  made  in  the 


notes,  or  in  tne  body  of  the  work/iipon  facts  so  notori- 
ous, that  it  is  presumed  every  man  who  has  attended 
even  in  a  slight  degree  to  our  publick  affairs  will  be  ac- 
quainted with  them  ;  or  upon  evidence  of  a  less  pub- 
hck  nature,  or  facts  less  known,  in  which  cases  the  au- 
thority will  be  cited,  and  the  publick  will  be  left  tc 
judge  of  the  weight  of  the  evidence. 

There  are  certain  things  however,  which  throughout 
the  whole,  it  will  be  taken  for  granted  the  readers  al- 
ready know,  as  it  would  be  hopeless  to  attempt  to  in- 
form the  understandings  of  those  who  are  at  this  late 
day  ignorant  of  them. 

For  example,  it  would  be  thought  superfluous  to  at- 
tempt to  prove  that  the  government,  against  the  spirit 
of  the  constiution,  and  the  interests  of  a  republick, 
bought  Louisiana  for  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  and  hold 
it  as  a  colony  by  military  force,  that  they  did  this  just 
at  the  moment  of  the  rupture  of  the  peace  of  Amiens, 
after  the  departure  of  lord  Whitworth,  and  that  'it  was 
hun*ied  through,  lest  the  declaration  of  war  should  inter- 
vene and  render  the  bargain  either  void  or  questionable. 
Such  well  known  facts  will  be  stated  without  adduc- 
ing proofs,  and  as  to  other  more  minute  and  less  im-  / 
portant  ones,  in  which  the  evidence  may  not  be  easily 
procured,  we  must  repose  ourselves  on  the  candour  of 
the  publick,  who  will  form  their  opinions  from  the  ge- 
neral tenour  of  our  pamphlet,  and  the  rigid  adherence  to 
truth  which  they  may  discover  in  other  parts  of  which 
they  may  be  competent  judges. 

Having  made  these  preliminary  remarks,  we  proceed 
to  exhibit  the  scope,  and  plan  of  this  statement. 

In  the  year  1801,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  ex- 
cited by  causes  which  we  all  now  understand,  ajid  im- 
pelled by  motives  and  feelings,  which,  in  a  free  govern- 
ment will  ever  be  fatal  to  any  honest  and  honourable  ad- 
ministration ;  deceived,  cajoled  and  corrupted  by  an 
abominable  system  of  falsehood  and  calumny,  withdrew 
their  confidence  from  the  founders  of  our  republick, 
the  authors,  supporters,  defenders  and  friends  of  the 
constitution,  and  transferred  it  to  their  calumniators  to 


I  / 


the  open  and  avowed  opposcrs  of  that  constitution, 
and  ot  that  system  which  was  calculated  to  make  us  a 
great,  powertul,  and  happy  people. 

The  great  object  of  this  collection  of  facts  is  to  lead 
to  the  inquiry,  how  far  the  opposers  and  successors  of 
the  friends  and  framers  of  the  constitution  have  fulfilled 
the  promises  they  made  to  the  Publick — how  far  they 
have  remedied  the  abuses  which  they  asserted  had  ex- 
isted under  the  former  administrations,  and  how  far 
their  measures,  on  the  whole,  have  conduced  to  those 

frreat  national  objects  which  ought  to  be  first  in  the  po- 
icy  of  an  enlightened  government,  peace,  security  and 
respectability  abroad — union,  prosperity,  virtue,  and 
happiness  at  home. 

,  Before  we  enter  upon  these  considerations,  and  exa- 
mine the  detail  of  facts  under  the  different  heads,  it 
may  be  usefull  to  make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  princi- 
ples of  the  former  and  present  rulers  as  they  stood 
at  the  time  of  the  change  in  1801,  and  upon  the  nature 
of  the  complaints  which  were  urged  against  the  Fede- 
ral administrations. 

We  shall  say  nothing  of  the  private  or  personal,  of 
the  moral  or  religious  character  of  these  respective 
chiefs.  Not  that  we  consider  these  questions  of  no 
importance  to  the  people,  for  we  do  most  conscienti- 
ously  believe,  that  the  evils  we  are  now  suffering  are  in 
a  great  measure  to  be  attributed  to  our  offending  the 
majesty  of  heaven  by  an  indifference  about  the  moral 
and  religious  character  of  our  chief  magistrate. 

But  it  is  not  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  consider  these 
things  of  any  importance,  and  as  our  object  is  convic- 
tion, we  shall  only  address  the  people  on  those  points 
which  they  think  important.  Our  religious  friends 
will  excuse  us,  therefore,  if  we  do  not  make  a  contrast 
between  the  moral  and  religious  qualities  of  Washing- 
ton, and  those  of  the  patron,  the  publick,  open  and  pro- 
fligate patron  of  Thomas  Paine. 

The  faults  with  which  the  Washington  and  Adams* 
administrations  were  reproached,  and  for  which,  by  the 
aid  of  the  most  unprincipled  calumny,  they  lost  their 


standing  in  the  opinions  of  the  majority,  were  the  sup** 
port  of  publick  credit — the  eatablishmcnt  of  the  national 
bank — the  declaration  of  neutrality — the  building  of  a 
navy — the  not  embarking  in  the  war  on  the  side  of 
France — the  resistance  to  an  open  demand  of  tribute 
made  by  that  nation — the  repellmg  the  capture  of  our 
ships  by  a  general  decree  of  France — the  declaring  by 
the  sedition  act,  that  no  man  should  calumniate  the  gov> 
ernment,  reserving  to  the  accused  the  right  to  give  the 
truth  in  evidence — ^^the  power  to  send  offensive  aliens^ 
notorious  intriguers,  out  of  the  country,  (which  last  pow- 
er was  never  exercised) — and  the  establishment  of  a 
standing  army.  ^ 

To  these  general  charges  against  the  government  were 
added  some  detestible  calumnies  against  the  particular 
members  of  the  administration,  against  col.  Pickering 
as  a  great  defaulter,  and  against  Mr.  Wolcott  and  Mr. 
Dexter  as  haying  voluntarily  burnt  their  offices  in  or- 
der to  prevent  a  scrutiny  into  the  publick  accounts. 

It  must  occur  to  every  honest  man,  who  now  looks 
back  upon  our  publick  aifairs,  how  miserably  the  pre- 
sent administration  have  fulfilled  their  threats  in  ne- 
glecting to  bring  these  pretended  offenders  to  publick 
justice,  and  in  imitating  the  measures  of  their  predeces- 
sors, which  they  had  denounced  as  most  obnoxious; 
But  we  are  not  content  with  general  reflections,  and 
before  we  enter  upon  tliat  mass  of  folly  and  miscon- 
duct, of  which  the  present  administration  have  been  gi:il- 
ty,  we  shall  examine  in  detail  the  several  charges  made 
against  their  predecessors,  and  how  far  the  conduct  of 
the  present  rulers  has  proved  that  they  had  any  confi- 
dence orbelief  in  the  justice  of  the  charges  which 
they  had  made  against  the  Federalists. 

1st.  Then,  the  first  unpardonable  sin  which  the  fede- 
ral administration  committed,  was  the  establishment  of 
the  publick  credit — the  performance  of  the  publick 
promises — the  redeeming  of  the  pledges,  which  the  peo- 
ple had  given,  as  the  price  of  their  liberties.  It  will 
seem  extraordinary  to  posterity,  that  such  an  act  of 
justice  and  morality;  should  have  been  made  the  ground 


i      ' 


ei;  accusation ;  but  in  failure  of  more  solid  objections 
it  was  made  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  complaint. 
We  are  not,  hoWever,  disposed  to  enter  into  these  dis^ 
graceful  periods  of  the  history  of  faction ;  it  is  our  pre- 
sent purpose  to  shew  that  the  existing  administration; 
after  makine  this  clamour  against  their  predecessors, 
have  made  it  their  boast,  that  they  have  pursued  the 
same  steps.-^Thty  have  the  hardihood  to  take  great 
credit  to  themselves  for  imitating  the  illustrioi^s  exam- 
ple of  their  predecessors,  as  to  publick  credit ;  and  for 
adopting  the  wise  precepts  of  our  immortal  financier, 
General  Hamilton. 

Mr.  Gallatin,,  though  a  man  of  talents,  can  claim  no 
other  merit  than  that  of  having  acted  as  a  faithful  chief 
clerk  in  executing  Hamilton's  system.  The  publick 
detj^  has  been  left  upon  the  same  basis.  Gen.  HamiU 
toit^s  admirable  sinking  fund  and  provision .  for  the 
gradual  redemption  ^of  the  publick  debt,  have  formed 
the  only  sources  of  self-gratulation  and  praise  with  thef 
preaent  secretary  of  the  treasur}\  His  system  of  reve- 
nue and  collection  remains  wholly  unaltered.  May  we 
not  say  then  that  it  is  strange,  passing  strange,  that  the 
successors  of  this  much  calumniated  statesman  have 
nottbeen  able  to  find  one  single  measure  m  his  Vfhoh 
system  which  could  be  altered  or  improved  ? 
'  One  other  fact  deserves  notice.— A  democratick  fhem- 
6er  of  Congress,  after  paying  a  high  compliment  to  Gen. 
Hapi^lton's  talents,  moved  at  the  present  session,  "  that 
hi&lxcellent  report  upon  the  encouragement  ofdomestick 
manuficturesy  which  comprized  more  knowledge  than 
cojiild  be  found  in  any  other  work  on  that  subject, 
sl|ould  be  republished  at  the  publick  expense." 

<This  was  agreed  to,  and  that  work  is  now  before 
Congress.  This  is  a  tribute  to  his  memory  less  ques- 
tionable, and  more  honourable  than  statues  of  marble 
or  bronze,  because  it  came  from  his  enemies ;  it  pro- 
ce|)ded  from  a  party  of  men  who  had  been  his  calumni- 
ators when  living,  and  who^  though  they  have  directed 
returns  to  be  inade,  of  the  state  of  our  manufactures 
from  every  part  of  the  union,  by  this  measure,  confess 


r: 


•»-», 


f 


that  they  do  not  possess  talents  enough  to  do  as  much 
justice  to  this  subject,  as  was  done  at  so  ej^rly  a  period 
by  that  single  unassisted  intelligent  statesman.     ..,     .^j^ 

One  other  idea  it  is  necessary  to  urge  bei^re  we  quit 
this  part  of  the  subject.     Mr.  Gallatin,  m  h's  late  re- 
port, acTcnowledges  that  in  case  of  war,  our  chief  reli- 
ance must  be  upon  loans,  and  that  those  loans  cannot 
be  effected  without  a  scrupulous  regard  to  publick  faith , 
and  the  discharge  of  the  interest  of  the  publick  debt.— 75 ,. 
Mr.  Madison,  also,  in  his  late  extra  message  to  Con-j 
gress,  congratulates  the  publick,  that  our  puolic/c  credit , 
is  so  good  that  we  may  safely  calcuhte  on  loans  for  the, 
necessities  of  the  state.     It  was  by  Hamilton's  system 
supported  by  the  Washington  administration,  that  this 
publick  credit  was  founded.      Who  opposed  it  ?  Mr. 
Madison,  or  if  he  chuses  to  forg-et  it,  the  Journals  of 
Congress  will  tell.     Suffice  it  to  say,  that  Mr.  Madison 
and  Mr.  Gallatin  offer  a  proud  triumph  to  federalism, 
iind  a  noble  eulogy  to  Hamilton  in  their  cphgratulations 
as  to  tlie  state  of  our  publick  credit,  while  at  the  same 
time,  they  condemn  to  shame  and  disgrace  their  own 
party,  who  coimsellcd  a  disregaid  to  the  plighted  faitli 
of  the  publick/*  i   >  jj  ? 

2dly.  The  establishment  of  the  national  bank,  form- 
ed another  fertile  source  of  complaint.  It  was  oppos- 
ed on  the  ground  that  Congress  had  no  right  to  create 
any  monopoly. — But  no  sooner  had  the  democratick 
party  acquired  the  ascendancy  in  all  the  branches  of  the 
government,  than  all  these  complaints  ceased. — They 
were  as  ready  to  avail  themselves  of  this  useful  and  ne- 
cesssyy  instrument  of  finance,  as  if  they  had  been  the 
original  framers  of  it ;  and  Mr.  Gallatin  has  already  an- 
ticipated a  considerable  accession  to  the  treasury,  from 
the  renewal  of  this  illegal  and  unconstitutional  charter. 
— "  Tempora  mutantur  et  nos  mutamur  cum  illis." 

3dly.  The  next  objection  of  our  consistent  demo- 
crats, while  they  were  labouring  to  pull  down  the 
administration  of  Washington,  was  to  the  wise  declara- 
tion of  neutrality. 


10 


i 


Mr.  JefTcrson  tv«&  not  ashamed  to  hold  an  office  un- 
der the  government,  and  defend  by  his  official  labours 
the  just  and  prudent  measures  of  the  administration 
and  at  the  same  moment  to  maintain  a. press,  edited  by 
his  own  clerk,  Mr.  Freneau,  to  abuse  these  very  mea- 
sures. 

";  He  leagued  himself  with  the  French  ministers  Ge- 
net and  Fauchet,  in  their  attempts  to  subvert  the  au- 
thority of  the  administration  (of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber) and  gave  them  just  reason  to  compute  him  among 
the  number  of  their  faithful  adherents.  See  the  letters 
of  Mr.  Fauchet  on  this  subject. 

As  SQon,  however,  as  this  party  had  got  a  firm  foot- 
ing in  our  publick  affairs,  they  had  the  impudent  in- 
consistency to  boast  themselves  to  be  the  friends  of  an 
impartial  neutrality. 

This  magick  word  has  been  the  talisman  by  which 
they  have  been  enabled  to  assail  with  success  the  dear- 
est interests  of  the  United  States.  This  boasted  neu- 
trality, which  they  had  so  openly  and  strenuously  op- 
posed, is  however,  but  the  shadow,  the  ghost  of  that 
honest  principle  which  governed  th^ 'Counsels  of  our 
departed  Washington.  Under  colour  of  this  empty, 
but  with  them  despised  and  contenfned  name,  they 
have  assiduously  and  faithfully  subserved  the  views  of 
France,  and  have  made  our  rights  and  interests  tribu- 
tary to  her  inordinate,  ambitious,  and  selfish  views. 

ithly.  The  next  popular  string  upon  which  our  de- 
mocratick  leaders  most  successfully  played,  was  the 
building  of  a  navy. 

It  was  denounced  as  an  useless,  expensive  measure 
of  defence  ;  calculated  to  provoke  rather  than  to  repel 
foreign  aggressions.  It  was  contended  that  foreign 
commerce  was  not  worth  the  expense  of  its  defence. — 
In  order  to  ketp  up  some  appearance  of  consistency 
one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  administration  was  to  sella 
part  of  our  navy,  to  dismantle  the  rest,  and  to  haul  them 
up  to  a  speedy  and  certain  destruction. 


11 


r  which 
le  clear- 
ed neu- 
isly  op- 
of  that 
of  our 
empty, 
[i€,  they 
k^iews  of 
ts  tribu- 


tt  foteigii 


But  mark  the  sincerity  of  these  men!  As  soon  as  it 
became  expedient  to  stir  up  a  quarrel  with  Great  Bri- 
tain our  consistent  patriots  resorted  to  the  very  weapons 
which  they  had  denounced.  They  changed  however 
the  form,  and  with  the  ignorance  and  pride  of  visionary 
men,  they  substituted  the  inefficient  system  of  gun  boat 
defence.  We  shall  reserve  to  another  head  the  partic- 
ular consideration  of  this  policy,  but  it  is  sufficient  to 
say,  that  this  theoretick  experiment  in  point  of  expense, 
vastly  exceeded  that  of  the  regular  and  honourable  sys- 
tem which  was  abolished  to  make  way  for  it. 

It  has  involved  the  nation  in  serious  calamity,  and  the 
authors  of  it  in  disgrace.  It  may  be  added  that  it  is 
now  abandoned  by  all  its  friends,  without  having  an- 
swered any  useful  purpose,  unless  its  tendency  shall  be 
to  awaken  the  country  to  a  sense  of  the  incapacity  and 
folly  of  its  projectors. 

One  other  idea,  is  necessary  to  be  stated  on  this  top- 
ick.  The  government  are  now  about  to  order  all  the  fri- 
gates of  the  United  States,  to  be  equipped,  and  have  ap- 
propriated six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  repair  the 
ravages  made  upon  them  by  their  own  folly.  Thus  then 
at  the  end  of  eight  years,  they  pay  a  reluctant  but  une- 
quivocal tribute  to  the  wisdom  of  their  predecessors. 

Mr.  William  B.  Giles,  the  organ  of  the  Executive  in 
the  Senate,  has  made  a  formal  recantation  oi  his  errors 
on  this  subject  in  a  late  speech,  and  expresses  his  hor- 
ror  at  that  Vandal  like  spirit,  which  represented  a  navy 
as  an  improper  mode  of  defence.  He  has  the  modesty 
to  adopt  as  his  own,  and  as  the  opinion  of  administra- 
tion the  maxim  of  Washington,  "that  to  preserve  peace, 
the  surest  mode  is  to  be  prepared  for  war."    . 

5th]y.  It  was  objected  against  Washington,  that  he 
was  unwilling  to  embark  the  United  States  in  the  war 
on  the  side  of  France. 

The  answers  and  refusal  of  our  cabinet  to  Mr.  Ge- 
net, when  he  urged  them  to  pledge  this  rising  repub- 
Jif k  in  favour  of  the  French  system  of  general  warfare 


'^! 


12 


'] 


on  ancionl  governments,  were  the  theme  of  constant 
abuse.    '^)>iitf  InkhHyy  i,  ■ 

In  this  sbgl^'cade,  however,  they  have  been  consist* 
ent ;  for  ahhottgh  they  have  not  dared  openly  to  propose 
iri  Congress  an  alliance  with  France  and  war  with  Great 
Britain,  yet  their  friends  and  partisans  have  uniformly 
urged  this  nieasure,and  the  cabinet  have  done  every  thing 
in  their  power  to  provoke  Great  Britain  to  hostilities, 
so  as  to  shift  the  odium  of  a  war  from  themselves  upon 
the  British  government. 

6ihly.  The  next  charge  against  the  federal  s^dmini- 
stration  was,  their  resistance  to  the  open  and  direct  de- 
mand of  tribute ;  the  impudent  claim  of  fifty  tho^tsand 
pounds  sterling,  as  a  bribe  or  douceur,  to  admit  our  min- 
isters to  an  audience,  of  which  Mi^.  Gerry  gives  sttch  a 
picture,  in  the  history  of  his  interviews  with  certain  cor- 
rupt French  agents  of  both  sexes.  Coupled  with  this 
insult  was  an  open  declaration  of  war  against  our  com- 
merce. Yet  these  democratick  gentlemen,  so  alive  as 
they  pretend  to  the  honour  of  our  coimtry,  overturned 
the  federal  administration,  because  they  dared  to  repel 
these  hostile  aggressions  and  insults  of  France. 

Now,  fellow  citizens,  mark  the  contrast! — A  simple 
duty  laid  by  Great  Britain  on  such  neutral  vessels  as 
should  voluntarily  enter  her  ports,  and  request  licenses 
though  accompanied  by  a  declaration  that  it  slw>uld  be 
removed  if  we  should  prefer  it,  is  converted  into  an 
odious  tribute  not  to  be  endured ;  and  the  retaliation  in 
less  extensive  terms  of  a  previous  aggression  by  France, 
is  declared  t©  be  just  cause  of  war,  and  our  nation  is 
put  to  an  infinitely  greater  expense  and  loss  to  repel 
this  retaliatory  order,  to  say  the  least,  vastly  more  ex- 
cusable than  the  unprovoked  injuries  of  France,  for  re- 
sisting which  the  late  federal  administration  were  dia- 
placed, 

7thly.  It  was  another  fertile  source  of  complaint 
against  the  federal  administration,  that  in  a  momenf 
of  external  danger  and  of  virulent  internal  opposition 
ihey  made  a  law  to  punish  seditious  writings  again-it 


18 


the  ffoverntn^nt,  ycscrving  to  Ae  party  accused  the  right 
to  give  the  truth  in  evidence.  This  was  an  amelioration 
of  the  common  law  principle ;  but  it  was  opposed  on 
the  ground  that  the  press  oiight  to  be  perfectly  free,  and 
that  "  error  was  never  dangerous  where  reason  was  left 
free  to  combat  it."  As  soon,  however,  as  the  demo- 
cratick  party  had  gained  the  ascendancy,  it  was  perceiv- 
ed that  their  only  objection  to  the  sedition  law,  was  the 
right  which  U.  afforded  to  the  citizen  to  give  the  truth 
in  evidence. 

The  Worcester  Farmer,  written  as  it  is  now  under- 
stood by  Mr.  Lincoln,  denounced  all  free  discussion 
upon  the  measures  of  government,  declared  that  very 
species  of  "  oppiignation"  to  the  constituted  authorities, 
either  by  speech  or  the  press,  should  be  considered 
"  treason,  and  punished  as  such  ;"  and  the  *demo- 
cratick  leaders  proceeded  to  institute  prosecutions  at 
common  law,  to  set  up  the  ancient  arbitrary  principles 
of  the  court  of  star  chamber,  and  to  fine  and  imprison 
writers  in  the  newspapers  for  daring  to  exhibit  to  the 
people  the  true  state  of  the  publick  affairs. 

8thly.  It  was  a  charge  against  the  fedpral  administra- 
tion, that  in  a  moment  of  great  political  danger,  they 
authorized  the  President  to  send  out  of  the  country 
such  aliens  as  should  be  found  intriguing  against  the 
national  government,  and  under  foreign  pay,  stirring 
up  opposition  to  our  own  constituted  authorities.     This 
power  was,however,never  exercised  in  a  single  instance. 
Yet  these  friends  to  the  right  of  aliens  have  made  no 
hesitation  in  denouncing  our  own  natural  born  citizens, 
for  a  constitutional  exercise  of  their  rights,  and  have 
(constantly  threatened  confiscation  and  banishment  to 
those  persons  who  have  dared  to  question  the  correct- 
ness of  their  measures. 

9thly.  Another  most  prolifick  source  of  complaint 
against  the  federal  administration,  was  the  establishment 
of  a  standing  armi/.  To  the  j  aundiced  and  cQjtsistent  eyes 
of  our  democratick  patriots,  a  publick  and  puny  force 
of  5000  men  was  magiiified  into  an  immense  military 


14 


■  \ 


i  r 


hydra,  capable  of  devouring,  not  only  all  the  re^lar 
militia  of  the  United  States,  amounting  to  half  a  million 
of  citizen  soldiers,  but  of  reducing  the  nation  to  a  state 
of  absolute  vassalage. 

This  to  be  sure  was  ludicrous  enough,  but  its  absur- 
dity is  not  equal  to  the  inconsistency  of  these  same  pa- 
triots, who  contend,  that  our  militia  are  abundantly 
able  to  cope  with  the  whole  armed  legions  of  France, 
and  who  represent  the  fears  expressed  by  the  intelligent 
federalists  on  this  subject  to  be  the  result  of  cowardice, 
and  a  disposition  to  debase  our  country.  **  See  on  this 
subject,  Mr.  Adams'  Phillippick  against  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Ames." 

Nor  is  this  the  most  inconsistent  part  of  their  conduct. 
These  same  enemies  of  a  standing  army  have  in  their 
turn  become  the  most  strenuous  advocates  for  the  same 
measure.  When  the  maritime  superiority  of  Great 
Britain  has  rendered  the  probability  of  an  attack  from 
France  infinitely  smaller,  these  same  militia  advocates^ 
,  and  enemies  of  a  regular  force,  have  created,  and  have 
now  proposed  a  mucb  more  formidable  military  force 
than  their  predecessors  ever  dared  to  create. 

The  standing  military  force  now  actually  in  pay  (in- 
cluding the  dead  and  sick)  is  as  great  as  that,which  at  any 
one  moment  was  raised  by  the  federal  administration. 

If  we  add  to  these,  the  twenty  thousand  volunteers, 
who  are  to  be  actually  embodied,  and  to  whom  i, 
bounty  is  offered,  to  induce  them  to  cut  the  throats 
of  the  opponents  of  the  administration,  we  shall  find 
that  the  only  objection  of  our  pious  democrats,  was  to 
the  existence  of  a  military  force  in  the  hands  of  their 
political  opponents.  They  have  no  scruple  of  conscience 
at  the  wasting  of  the  publick  money,  or  the  danger  to 
the  publick  liberty,  by  a  military  force,  armed  and  com- 
manded by  their  tools. 

But  there  is  another  view  of  this  subject,  which  is 
calculated  to  put  our  democratick  party  to  the  blush. 

The  military  force  under  the  federal  administratioiis 
;most  Strictly  respected  the  rights  of  the  citizen — in  np 


15 


one  case  were  thfey  employed  to  dragoon  their  fellow  cit- 
izens into  submission  to  unjust  and  arbitrary  mandates. 
Under  the  present  administratioii  the  only  activey 
employment  of  our  army  has  been  as  tide  waiters  and 
fipies.  Wilkinson,  the  corrupt,  profligate,  traitorous 
Wilkinson,  trampled  the  rights  of  the  citizen  under 
foot,  despised  the  decisions  of  the  judiciary,  violated 
the  privilege  of  habeas  corpus,  squandered  56000  dol- 
lars on  articles  of  personal  luxury,  destroyed  a  whole 
army  by  disease,  and  is  still  continued  in  the  confidence 
of  the  executive. 

Even  in  this  gallant  and  highminded  state — in  this 
town  so  renowned  for  its  noble  resistance  to  military 
oppression,  we  have  seen  a  subordinate  military  officer, 
with  a  little  brief  authority,  which  a  single  rcgiment 
could  have  defeated,  brave  the  resentment  of  this  free 
and  loyal  jDCople,  put  our  town  in  a  state  of  siege,  and 
subject  us  to  all  the  contumely  and  insult  which  the  sa- 
traps of  a  despotick  tyrant  could  inflict  on  a  subjugated 
and  miserable  people.* 

lOthly.  For  many  years  before  the  democratick  party 
gained  the  ascendancy  in  our  country,  they  circulated 
calumnies  aga'^i^t  the  officers  of  the  government, 
charging  them  with  gross  peculation  of  the  publick 
property. 

It  was  alleged,  that  Col.  Pickering  was  a  publick 
delinquent,  and  stood  indebted  to  the  United  States  in 
large  sums,  totally  unaccounted  for.  An  inquiry  was 
instituted  into  the  aflair,  by  his  political  enemies,  as 
soon  as  they  came  into  power,  and  the  result  was,  that 
his  accounts  were  satisfactorily  settled,  though  it  ap- 
peared that  by  order  of  his  superior  officers,  he  had  ex- 
pended money,  for  which  no  regular  appropriation  had 
been  made  by  previous  law. 

Willing  to  permit  him  to  remain  in  this  situation,  in 
order  to  enable  their  partizans  to  repeat  their  calumnies, 
they  neglected  till  the  present  session  tp  make  an  ap- 

*  For  particulars  on  these  psints,  see  notiCs  at  the  end  of  Uie  robrme. 


u 


n 


!)• 


r 


propriation  to  cover  the  actual  expendiCures  whicii  he 
had  made,  by  order  of  his  superiours. 

Now,  we  are  told  by  the  Chronicle^  printed  in  Bos- 
ton, the  very  paper  which  has  so  olteii  repeated  the  ca- 
lumny, "that  Congress,  as  a  matter  of  form,  had 
made  an  appropriation  to  settle  his  accounts."  See 
Chronicle  of  February,  1810.    ..  i..\f  \ 

This  very  party  then  have  at  last  conceded,  that  this 
clamour  was  only  a  matter  of  form^  and  liave  admitted 
the  fairness  and  integrity  of  this  ofHcer. 

Cliarges  of  a  similar  nature  were  advanced  against 
Mr.  Wolcott  and  Mr.  Dexter,  and  it  was  added,  that 
their  offices  had  been  intentionally  burnt,  in  order  to 
covier  their  defalcations. 

No  other  answer  need  be  given  to  these  most  infa- 
mous lies,  than  that  the  present  administration  have 
been  eight  years  in  possession  of  all  the  means  to  convict 
them  without  taking  a  single  step  to  bring  them  to  jus- 
tice. But  we  have  a  more  convincing  reply ;  the  ac- 
counts of  these  gentlemen  have  been  fully  examined  by 
their  enemies,  and  the  result  was  most  honourable  to 
them.  Neither  of  them  is  included  by  Mr.  Duvall,  in 
his  official  report  of  balances  due  the  U.  States ;  and  the 
government  composed  of  his  inveterate  enemies,  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  indemnify  Mr.  Dexter  for  his  loss  by 
the  fire,  to  which  his  office  was  unfortunately  exposed. 

llthly.  It  was  an  objection  to  the  late  administration, 
that  diey  expended  money  for  which  no  appropriations 
had  been  made  by  law.  The  truth  is,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  Congress  to  foresee  and  provide  for  all  the 
casualties  which  may  occur  during  the  recess.  It  has 
always  happened  that  some  appropriations  have  been 
too  large  and  others  top  small.  It  has  been  the  prac- 
tice, and  a  most  usefiirone  for  the  President,  in  some 
cases,  to  authorize  the  heads  of  departments  to  apply 
the  unnecessary  surplus  \vhich  had  been  appropriated 
to  one  object,  to  the  deficiency  which  might  be  found  in 
another. 


It 


ch  he 


)st  infa- 
)n  have 
convict 
I  to  jus- 
thc  ac- 
iined  by 
rable  to 
uvall,  in 

and  the 
les,  have 
5  loss  by 
exposed, 
istration, 
ipfiations 
s  impos- 
)r  all  the 
It  has 
ave  been 
the  prac- 
,  in  some 

to  apply 
tropriated 
jfouiidin 


This  system  did  not,  however,  suit  the  fastidious  and 
refined  politicks  of  the  democrats.  These  honest  and 
virtuous  men,  who  have  plundered  the  publick  of  mil- 
lions without  pretext,  could  not  endure  the  lesser  of- 
fence of  saving  the  state,  by  applying  an  useless  fund  to 
an  object  where  it  was  wanted. 

But  since  they  came  into  power,  there  has  not  been 
a  single  appropriation  by  law,  in  which  they  have  not  foK 
lowed  the  example  of  their  predecessors,  which  they 
pretended  to  condemn. 

In  the  very  first  year  of  Jefferson's  administration,  he 
expended  an  immense  sum  in  the  disgraceful  repair  of 
the  French  frigate  Berceau,  for  which  no  appropriation 
had  been  made  by  law,  and  his  obedient  though  incon- 
sistent Congress  ratified  the  procedure. 

In  order  to  elude  the  principle,  that  every  expendi* 
ture  shall  have  a  specifick  appropriation  to  warrant  it, 
Congress  adopted  a  very  cunning  mode,  of  authorizing 
the  President  to  transfer  any  specifick  appropriation 
from  one  object  to  another.     This,  if  carried  to  ex- 
tremes, would  compleatly  defeat  the  provision  in  the 
constitution,  that  the  two  houses  should  have  the  ex* 
elusive  right  of  directing  the  appropriation  of  the  pub- 
lick  money.     Such  has  been,  in  fact,  the  operation. 
By  Mr.  HamiUon's  late  report,  we  find  that  94,153  dol- 
lars have  been  transferred,  by  Mr.  Madison,  from  the 
article  oi  provisions  to  which  Congress  limited  it,  to 
that  of  repairs  of  publick  vessels ;  and  another  suim  of 
18,000  dollars,  has  been  transferred  from  the  same  ob- 
ject, in  the  same  manner.     We  arc  not  disposed  to  cen- 
sure these  variations  because  the  publick  good  may  re- 
quire them,  but  we  say  that  they  are  gross  evasions  of  the 
principle,  for  which  the  democrats  strenuously  contend- 
ed.    It  signifies  nothing  to  the  people,  whether  the 
President  applies  and  Congress   ratifies,    or  whether 
Congress    authorizes    the    President  to  transfer   any 
sums  he  may  please  from  one  stated  appropriation  to 
another.     In  either  case,  the  power  of  Congress  and 
their  right  to  judge  of  the  necessity  of  the  expenditures 
3 


IS 


cciisc.  That  the  people  may  judge  ho>v  far  tliis  power 
lias  been  abused  we  will  simply  state,  that  upwards  of 
100,000  dollars  were  expended  in  eight  months,  at 
New  Orleans,  where  there  were  only  22  gun  boats  and 
two  bomb-vessels  ;  and  that  six  of  these  gun  boats  are 
reported  as  already  unfit  for  service^  before  any  one  of 
them  has  yet  seen  any  service.  See  Hamilton's  report 
to  Congress,  dated  Dec.  5,  1809. 

12thly.  It  was  a  most  fertile  source  of  complaint 
against  the  late  administrations,  that  our  foreign  inter- 
course was  too  extensive  ;  that  the  tendency  of  thus 
enlarging  our  connexion  with  foreign  nations  was  to 
endanger  our  peace,  and  to  expose  the  United  States 
to  the  influence  of  foreign  intrigues,  and  to  the  evils  of 
foreign  wars ;  that  besides  these  considerations,  the  ex- 
pense of  such  embassies  was  a  subject  of  serious  alarm. 

Let  us  see  how  far  the  conduct  of  our  present  rulers 
has  quadrated  with  their  professions. 

Holland  having  been  totally  merged  and  become  a 
province  of  France  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to  keep 
up  a  foreign  minister  with  her.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that'*such  would  have  been  the  policy  of  the  federalists. 

But  the  salaries  of  all  the  foreign  minsters  have  con- 
tinued the  same  ;  and  the  government  have  lately  add- 
ed a  7iexv  foreign  mission  to  those  which  formerly  ex- 
isted, and  this  not  only  without  any  honourable  pretext 
but  against  the  express  vote  of  an  obedient  senate,  who 
had  declared  no  such  mission  was  necessary. 

Here  then  we  have  another  proof  of  insincerity  m 
their  objections  to  the  policy  of  their  predecessors. 

Would  to  heaven  this  w^as  the  only  reflection  which 
this  late  appointment  of  Mr.  Adams  excites ! — But  we 
cannot  refrain  from  expressing  our  fears,  that  this  mis- 
sion will  produce  all  the  evils  which  this  party  foolishly 
affected,  without  reason,  to  fear  from  the  foreign  em- 
bassies which  were  made  by  theirmore  prudent  prede- 
cessors. 

Vie  could  extend  this  picture  to  a  variety  of  other  in- 
stances of  the  unfounded  objections  to  the  federal  ad- 


19 


ministrations,  but  wc  conceive  that  wc  have  given  suffi- 
cient proofs  of  the  insincerity,  and  falsehood  of  the 
charges  which  were  urged  against  them  by  their  ene- 
mies, with  no  other  view,  as  it  now  appears,  than  to  get 
possession  of  the  government,  and  to  be  enabled  to 
squander  its  resources  among  their  unprincipled  ad- 
herents. 

Before  we  proceed  to  display  the  evils  which  have 
resulted  from  the  chang*  produced  in  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  our  country,  let  us  contrast  the  charac- 
ter and  conduct  of  Washington  with  that  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son. As  to  Mr.  Adams,  who  has  surrendered  his  rep- 
utation into  the  hands  of  his  former  enemies,  we  shall 
leave  them  to  draw  whatever  contrast  they  please  be- 
tween him  and  our  present  chief  magistrate,  Mr.  Mad- 
ison. 

Washington,  originally  was  a  soldier ;  he  hazarded 
his  life  and  an  ample  fortune  in  the  service  of  his  coun- 
try. Even  his  enemies  profess  to  be  his  panegyrists, 
and  are  willing,  now  he  is  dead,  to  pay  a  hypocritical 
tribute  to  his  memory. 

That  Jefferson  cannot  make  any  pretensions  tp  the 
martial  virtues ;  that  he  made  no  sacrifices  of  personal 
safety,  or  by  any  efforts  of  exalted  courage,  the  silence 
of  his  friends  on  these  topicks  most  abundantly  proves. 
Washington  had  no  foreign  predilections ;  his  educa- 
tion, habits,  and  feelings  were  all  American.     Hence, 
we  find  in  his  administration,  he  exhibited  a  strict  im- 
partiality towards  foreign  nations,  and  consulted  only  the 
best  interests,  welfare,  and  peace  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Jefferson  passed  a  very  interesting  period  of  his 
life  at  the  court  of  France — His  mind  had  a  strong 
bias  in  favour  of  the  visionary  systems  of  the  French 
philosophers  and  oeconomists — He  contracted  firm 
friendships  and  warm  prejudices,  in  favour  of  France, 
during  his  residence  at  that  corrupt  court,  and  he  re- 
turned to  this  country  a  Frenchman  in  maimers,  senti- 
ments and  feelings. — It  is  a  fact  well  known  to  those 
who  have  seen  hirn  intimately,  diat  his  prejudices  in 


20 


lavoiir  of  France,  were  exhibited  in  his  dress — in  hih 
mode  of  living — in  his  literature — in  his  sentiments  up, 
on  religion,  but  what  was  more  unfortunate  for  his 
country,  in  his  political  opinions.  He  entered  deeply 
into  the  French  antipathy  against  Great  Britain,  and 
like  all  other  violent  theorists,  he  has  anticipated  as 
well  iis  anxiously  desired  the  downfall  of  the  British 
empire. 

These  circumstances  ought  to  be  known  in  order 
to  explain  the  very  extraordinary  course  of  his  admi* 
nistration — Taking  these  facts  as  a  clue,  we  may  be 
enabled  to  trace  the  intricate  labyrinth  of  his  political 
conduct  which  it  is  proposed  to  exhibit  hereafter  in  de> 
tail. 

Washington  was  president  of  the  convention  which 
adopted  our  present  constitution — He  gave  it  not  only 
his  sincere  assent,  but  the  well  merited  influence  of  his 
name. 

At  that  period  Jefferson  was  studying  infidelity  and 
the  holy  right  of  insurrection  at  Paris — He  returned  to 
this  country  to  partake  of  the  honours  and  rewards 
which  the  Federal  constitution  held  out  to  eminent 
men,  but  with  a  heart  embittered  even  to  rancour 
against  its  provisions. 

This  will  be  considered  by  some  persons,  as  the  tale 
of  past  times,  and  as  losing  a  portion  of  its  interest  by 
its  anticjuity  and  triteness,  but  it  is  nevertheless  impor- 
tant as  a  preamble  to  the  history  of  his  administration — 
Jeflerson's  invaluable  letter  of  treachery  and  precious 
confession  written  to  his  Atheistical  Italian  friend  Maz- 
zei  is  the  index  of  his  character  and  sentiments — That 
infidel  philosopher  resided  some  time  as  an  inmate  in 
Mr.  Jefferson's  family — it  was  to  this  bosom  friend 
that  our  late  chief  magistrate  declared,  when  passing  a 
church  in  ruins,  that  *'  it  was  good  enough  for  one  who 
was  born  in  a  manger." 

Is  it  surprising,  that  a  people  who  should  have  know- 
ingly promoted  such  an  infidel  to  rule  over  them,  should 
have  been  reduced  by  the  divine  judgments  to  the  state 


of  distress,  in  which  he  left  them  at  tlie  conclusion  of 
his  period  of  service  ? 

To  this  same  Muzzei,  our  late  chief  magistrate  Jef- 
ferson, whose  name  will  be  held  in  detestation,  by  our 
remotest  posterity,  declared  "that  the  executive,  judi- 
ciary, and  ..  )  trgc  inHJority  of  Congress  were  under  the 
influence  of  tlic  whore  of  P^ngland,"  and  this  too  at  a 
time  when  Washinfrtoii,  his  pation,  and  personal  friend 
was  at  the  head  of  the  government. 

Washington  promiscuously  appointed  men  of  all  po- 
liticks to  the  various  oftices  of  honor,  profit,  and  trust. 
The  names  of  Jefferson,  secretary  of  state,  Randolph 
attorney  general,  Jarvis  inspector  of  revenue,  in  Massa- 
chusetts— ^elville  inspector  of  the  customs  in  Boston, 
bitter  enough  for  any  party — Dearborne  marshal  of 
Maine — Whipple  and,  Gardner  in  Portsmouth,  will  be 
sufficient  among  a  thousand  others  to  prove  the  con- 
ciliatory policy  of  our  first  excellent  chief  magistrate. 
Jefferson,  entering  office  with  the  French  duplicity 
in  which  he  had  been  educated,  professing  that  party 
distinctions  ought  to  vanish,  and  that  we  were  "  all  fed- 
eralists, all  republicans,"  introduced  the  most  corrupt- 
ing and  intolerant  principles,  not  merely  by  confining 
honours  to  his  own  political  sect,  but  by  punishing 
men,  for  daring  to  oppose  his  election  and  principles, 
and  depriving  them   of  offices  to  which  they  were  en- 
titled, in  order  to  bestow  them  upon  wretches  who  have 
preyed  upon  the  vitals  of  the  body  politick. 

This  conduct,  of  which  Jefferson  set  the  first  exam- 
p\e,  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  downright  venality-^ 
allpublick  offices,  are  set  up* for  sale,  and  men  of  ta- 
lents are  invited  to  become  the  bidders  by  sacrifices  of 
their  principles,  and  of  their  party — Thus  wc  have 
seen  many  men  of  distinguished  abilities  entering  into 
this  auction  of  character,  and  bartering  their  virtues  and 
their  God  for  paltry  profit  and  disgraceful  honours. 

Washington  recommended  a  strict  impartiality  to- 
wards all  nations,  and  an  adherence  to  the  system  of 
keeping  ourselves  aloof  from  European  politicks. 


22 


Jefferson  assiduously  endeavoured  to  form  the  closest 
possible  intimacy  with  France,  and  to  plunge  us  into 
^n  open  contest  with  Great  Britain. 

Washington,  always  conscious  of  his  integrity,  Ex- 
pressed himself  openly,  freely,  and  frankly  to  the  na- 
tion, in  language  plain,  perspicuous,  and  easily  com- 
prehended by  all  classes  of  citizens. 

Jefferson,  formed  on  the  crooked  policy  of  the  French 
statesmen,  sought  to  dbnceal  his  designs  in  dark  am- 
biguous and  forced  language,  filled  with  involutions  of 
style,  which  may  be  made  to  mean  any  thing  or  nothing, 
as  he  might  afterwards  find  to  be  convenient  or  poli- 
tick. 

We  could  pursue  this  parallel  to  a  much  greater  ex- 
tent,  but  we  think  that  the  publick  will  now  be  suffici- 
ciently  prepared  for  that  history  of  inconsistency,  folly, 
corruption,  and  imbecillity — of  foreign  partiality  and 
hostility  to  the  commercial  interests,  which  a  candid 
statement  of  the  facts,  which  took  place  during  Mr. 
Jefferson's  administration^  will  undoubtedly  exhibit. 

In  stating  ( which  we  shall  do  as  briefly  as  is  con- 
sistent with  perspicuity, )  the  various  measures  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  of  Mr.  Madison,  which  have  reduced 
this  country  from  the  high,  honourable,  and  safe 
ground  upon  which  it  stood,  with  respect  to  all  for- 
eign nations  at  the  moment  when  they  came  into  pow- 
er ;  we  shall  arrange  the  subject  into  seven  general 
heads,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  and  we  shall  adduce 
under  each  head  the  facts,  numerically  arranged,  which 
tend  to  support  our  general  charges. 

The  publick  may  rely  upon  it,  that  we  shall  state 
nothing  which  we  cannot  prove  by  authentick  evi- 
dence or  publick  documents,  and  we  invite  and  chal- 
lenge the  officers  and  adherents  of  the  administration 
to  controvert  the  facts  alleged,  or  to  institute  prose- 
cutions in  our  courts  of  Law,  in  which  owing  to  the 
noble  sentiments  of  the  Massachusetts  Judiciary  it  ha« 
been  settled,  that  the  truth  mav  be  a:iven  in  evidence. 


23 


thus  placing  the  citizen  on  as  favourable  a  footing  as 
that  in  which  he  stood  under  the  sedition  act. 


HOSTILITY  TO  GREAT-BRITAIN. 

1.  The  first  general  charge  which  we  advance, 
and  mean  to  substantiate  against  the  administration, 
is  that  of  an  undue  and  unreasonable  spirit  of  hosti- 
litj  against  Great  Britain — a  fixed  resolution  to  fo- 
ment and  keep  alive  in  our  country,  strong  prejudices 
against  that  nation — to  avoid  all  adjustment  of  diifer- 
ences  with  her,  and  gradually  to  force  her  into  a  con- 
test, or  to  impair  her  resources  and  means  of  de- 
fending herself  against  the  common  enemy  of  mankind^ 
France. 

This  charge  is  supported  by  the  following  facts.     -» 

1st  PROOF. 

NEGLECT  TO  RENEW  TREATY. 

1.  By  the  neglect  and  refusal  to  renew  Mr.  Jay's 
treaty  when  it  expired — Whatever  might  have  been 
the  fears,  and  the  prophecies  against  that  calumniated 
and  unpopular  convention  at  the  time  it  was  ratified, 
the  experience  of  ten  years,  abundantly  proved  that  it 
was  calculated  to  protect  our  commerce  and  to  encou- 
rage our  enterprize. 

All  the  terrible  predictions  that  it  would  tend  to  re- 
duce us  to  the  state  of  colonies  yielded  to  that  surer 
test  of  all  political  opinions,  experience — Under  the 
influence  and  protection  of  that  treaty,  our  East  India 
trade  increased  from  one  million  to  ten  millions  of 
dollars  per  annum. 

Our  revenue  from  six  millions  to  twelve — our  com 
raerce  was  protected  and  our  flag  respected  in  every 
sea. 

That  it  might  have  been  renewed  the  writer  of  this 
article  knows  from  the  high  and  unquestionable  autho- 
rity of  Col.  Munroe  then  ambassador  at  London. 


24 

.  The  British  cabinet  were  so  desirous  of  continuing 
ihe  amicable  relations  of  the  two  countries,  that  they 
proposed  the  renewal  of  the  treaty,  for  two  years  dur- 
ing which,  the  two  high  contracting  parties  might  en- 
ter into  discussions  as  to  such  articles  as  either  of  them 
might  wish  to  amend  or  alter — The  British  govern- 
ment carried  their  disposition  to  amity  still  farther — 
they  directed  their  officers  in  India,  we  have  reason  to 
presume  to  act  upon  the  articles  of  that  treaty,  as  if 
they  were  still  in  force,  and  it  is  a  fact,  that  for  more 
than  four  years  after  its  expiration,  the  British  officers 
in  India  continued  to  respect  its  stipulations. 

But  though  our  dearest  interests  called  for  the  re- 
newal of  this  treaty — though  all  the  evils  we  have 
since  suffered,  would  have  been  avoided  by  such  a  mea- 
sure, yet  our  cabinet  preferred  to  hazard  our  peace, 
and  jeopardize  our  commerce,  rather  than  agree  to  a 
measure  which  would  tend  to  preserve  a  good  under- 
standing: with  Great  Britain. 


2(1  PROOF. 


NON-IMPORTATION  ACT. 


2.  When  the  extension  of  the  rule  of  1756, •by  the 
British  courts  of  admiralty,  to  cases  which  they  had  be- 
fore suffered  to  pass  without  notice,  (we  allude  to  the 
doctrines  of  continuity  of  trade,)  roused  our  mer- 
chants in  1805,  to  solicit  of  congress  measures  of  re- 
monstrance, it  was  the  understanding  and  wish  of  the 
mercantile  interests  that  congress  should  commence  a 
negociation  in  a  genuine  spirit  of  accommodation- 
Such  an  embassy  conducted  upon  honourable  princi- 
ples would  not  iiave  failed  to  be  successful ;  this  v/c 
have  a  right  to  presume,  from  the  success  which  in 
fact  did  attend  the  negociation,  notwitlistandii^^  the 
disadvantages  and  insults  to  Great  Britain,  under 
which  it  was  undertaken.  The  government  of  the 
United  States,  instead  of  sending  Mr.  Munroe  unfct- 


25 


terfed  \vitli  restrictions^  and  unaccompanied  by  hostile 
measures,  passed  the  non-importation  act,  prohibiting 
the  introduction  of  certain  British  commodities,  the 
language  of  which  could  not  be  misunderstood,  and 
was  intended  to  be  understood  as  declaring,  that  if  they 
did  not  come  to  our  terms,. this  rod  which  we  held  over 
them,  should  be  suffered  to  inflict  the  punishment 
which  we  pretended  that  they  merited. 

This  conduct  was  precisely  like  the  policy  of  the 
same  party,  at  the  time  of  Jay's  ncgociation — It  was 
then  proposed,  that  the  negotiator  should  be  armed 
with  the  terrors  of  our  resentment,  but  the  pacifick 
and  prudent  policy  of  the  Washington  administration, 
defeated  that  project. 

This  is  another  proof  of  the  insincere  manner  in 
which  our  present  rulers  negotiate  with  Great-Britain, 

Mr.  Munroe  was  moreover,  especially  instructed, 
not  to  conclude  a  treaty,  unless  the  right  of  impressing 
British  seamen  in  our  vessels  should  be  explicitly  re- 
linquished. This  point  proved  the  stumbling  block  as 
was  predicted. 

^  3d  PROOF. 

RkJECTIOM  OF  MUNHOE  AND  PlKKNEv's  TREATY. 

Notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  and  impedi- 
ments under  which  the  negociation,  by  Messrs.  Mun- 
roe  and  Pinkney,  was  undertaken,  yet  those  gentle- 
men, meeting  with  an  administration  in  Great  Britain 
more  favourable  to  this  country  than  any  which  had 
ever  before,  or  will  ever,  probably,  again  exist,  were 
enabled  to  conclude  a  most  advantageous  and  honour- 
able treaty. 

The  terms  of  that  treaty  were  so  satisfactory  to  our 
envoys,  that  they  wrote  the  President,  that  they  had 
concluded  a  convention  which  embraced  all  the  objects 
committed  to  them. 

The  President  himself,  on  the  3d  of  Februar}',  1807. 
expressed  the  same  opinion^  in  his  message  to  Congcofis. 
4  ■         ■" 


26 


u 


Yet  when  this  satisfactory  arrangement  arrived,  thia 
same  President  sent  it  back  with  indignity,  without 
submitting  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  senate,  as  had 
been  the  invariable  practice  in  such  cases. 

Can  we  have  a  stronger  proof,  of  a  determination  of 
our  cabinet  to  prolong  the  state  of  dissension  between 
us  and  Great  Britain,  and  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
amicable  settlement  ? 

Two  reasons  have  been  privately  assigned,  for  this 
abrupt  measure,  neither  of  which,  will  in  any  degree, 
justify  it. 

1st.  That  it  contained  a  note,  added  by  the  British 
government,  after  it  was  signed,  derogatory  to  the  ho- 
nour and  interest  of  the  United  States.  This  note,  so 
much  misrepresented,  has  since  been  displayed  to  the 
publick.  It  amounted  only  to  an  honourable  notice, 
on  the  part  of  the  British  cabinet,  that  if  we  should 
submit  to  the  French  decree  of  Berlin,  his  Majesty 
should  reserve  to  himself  the  right  to  retaliate. 

Such  a  right  was  neither  strengthened  or  weakened 
by  this  declaration ;  and  it  could  be  viewed  in  no  other 
light  than  as  a  friendly  warning,  that  Great  Britain 
would  feel  herself  authorized  to  resort  to  the  acknowl- 
edged law  of  retaliation,  in  case  we  should  neglect  our 
neutral  duties,  so  far  as  to  submit  to  the  infraction  of  our 
neutral  rights  by  France ;  infractions^  in  which  Great 
Britain  was  directly  interested,  as  the  decrees  were  on 
the  face  of  them,  aimed  solely  at  her  through  the  com- 
merce of  America.  If  Great  Britain  had  not  adopted 
this  honourable  course  of  previous  notice  ;  if  she  had 
followed  the  example  of  France,  and  had  retaliated  with- 
out any  preceding  intimation,  there  would  have  been  no 
limit  to  our  clamour  and  just  complaints. 

2dly.  The  only  other  objection  to  this  most  excellent 
treaty,  rejected  with  so  little  ceremony,  and  so  little  re- 
gard to  the  best  interests  of  the  United  States,  was,  that 
it  contained  no  stipulation  as  to  the  claim  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, to  take  HER  OWN  seamen  out  of  the  merchant  ships 
of  the  United  States.     We  say  nothing  of  the  opinion, 


27 

^o  often  expressed  by  all  commercial  men,  that  it  is  in- 
expedient to  make  tijjs  point  a  sine  qua  non  of  a  treaty. 
We  say  nothing  of  th? limited  exercise  of  this  claim  by 
Great  Britain,  of  late  years.  We  say  nothing  of  the 
uniform  practice  of  other  belligerents,  of  enforcing  the 
same  pretensions,  especially  France,  We  say  nothing 
of  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  former  administration, 
of  the  minor  nature  of  this  grievance,  by  their  having 
made  treaties  and  conventions,  in  which  it  had  been 
overlooked ;  nor  of  the  intrinsick  difficulty  of  settling 
this  most  delicate  question  between  a  belligerent  and  a 
neutral,  whose  seamen  are  so  confounded  in  language, 
manners,  and  feelings;  and  where  the  neutral  offers 
such  strong  inducements  from  high  wages  and  personal 
security,  for  desertion,  from  the  belligerents,  fighting 
for  existence.  We  purposely  overlook  all  these  con- 
siderations, which  are  of  immense  weight,  and  confine 
ourselves  to  the  answer  of  Col.  Mimroe,  a  democrat, 
appointed  by  Jefferson  ;  who  declares  in  print,  that  *'  on 
this  point,  he  had  concluded  an  informal  arrangement; 
with  the  British  government,  which,  he  conceived,  em- 
braced the  spirit  of  his  instructions." 

It  appears  then,  that  the  treaty  was  rejected,  without 
any  solid  or  even  plausible  pretexts,  and  this  rash  mea- 
sure* affords  the  strongest  proof  of  the  indisposition  of 
our  cabinet,  to  heal  the  differences  against  Great  Bri- 
tain. 

4th  PROOF, 

» 

PROCLAMATION  INTERDICTING  BRITISH  SHIPS  OF  WAR. 

The  next  proof  I  shall  cite  of  the  disposition 
of  our  cabinet,  to  widen  the  breach  between  us  and 
Great  Britain,  is  the  President's  proclamation  interdict- 
ing the  entry  of  all  British  ships  of  war,  after  the  affair 
of  the  Chesapeake. 

No  principle,  in  the  law  of  nations,  is  better  settled 
than  that  nations  cannot  resort  to  acts  of  hostility  or  re. 

•  See  note  on  tUis  subject  at  the  end  of  this  pamphlet. 


28 

taliation  for  the  malconduct  of  inferior  officers,  until  a 
demand  of  satisfaction  has  bee^pade  of  the  govern- 
ment whose  officer  has  been  giii*  .*  We  had  an  il- 
lustrious example  of  this  principle,  and  of  the  true  dig- 
nity of  procedure,  in  the  case  of  the  insult  offered  by 
Capt.  Stanhope,  in  1787,  to  Gov.  Bowdoin,  in  this 
State.  A  remonstrance  was  made  to  Great  Britain, 
and  the  offending  officer  was  cashiered.  We  complain 
of  the  neglect  and  delay  of  Great  Britain,  to  give  satis- 
faction for  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake,  when  the  only 
barrier,  and  a  barrier  purposely  interposed  by  our  gov- 
ernment, has  been  the  obstacle  to  a  complete  atonement. 

Such  a  measure  as  the  interdiction  of  British  ships, 
can  <5nly  be  viewed  as  hostile,  and  founded  upon  the 
presumption,  that  the  government  of  another  country 
is  not  disposed  to  do  us  justice. 

Now,  however  true  we  may  believe  this  to  be,  it  is 
wholly  inconsistent  with  the  etiquette  and  the  delicacy 
which  ought  always  to  govern  independent  states. 

If  Mr.  Jefferson  had  waited  only  three  months,  he 
would  have  found  that  Great  Britain  regretted  and  dis- 
approved the  conduct  of  Admiral  Berkely,  as  much  as 
we  did.t 


5th  PROOF. 

AEJECTION  OF  MR.  ROSE. 

But  5.  This  rash,  I  will  not  call  it  unadvised 
step  (because  I  think  it  was  designed)  proved  the  only 
obstacle  to  Mr,  Rose*s  mission.  That  minister  was  a 
solemn  envoy  from  the  second  power  in  the  world,  and 
I  believe  he  was  the  only  one  which  that  nation  has 
sent  for  several  centuries  to  offer  satisfaction  to  any  na- 
tion.  He  had  but  one  restriction,  and  that  every  man 
of  sense  foresaw  he  would  have. — **  I  will  acknowledge, 
said  the  kin^  of  Great  Brit»^n,  the  act  cf  my  servant  to 
be  unauthorized,     I  will  ^'ve  you  due  compensation 

*  See  note  on  this  subject  at  the  end  of  this  pamphlet, 
t  See  ftote  on  the  subject  of  Berlrelv,  at  the  end  of  this  pamphlet. 


29 


for  it,  but  I  cannot  do  this,  so  lonff  as  you  pretend  to 
compel  mt  hy  force  to  perform  that  which  I  am  ready 
to  do,  from  a  sense  of  justice  and  propriety." 

Precisely  to  this  point  of  insult,  our  cabinet  most 
pertinaciously  adhered.  As  soon  as  it  was  discovered 
that  Great  Britain  (as  was  foreseen)  w<5uld  not  yield  it, 
it  was  determined  to  insist  upon  it ;  and  yet  no  plausi- 
ble reason  can  be  given  for  this  obstinate  adherence. 

It  was  pretended  that  the  measure  was  merely  pre- 
cautionary ;  that  is,  that  it  was  founded  on  the  fear 
that  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake  might  be  followed 
by  other  like  outrages ;  but  as  soon  as  Great  Britain 
disavowed  and  condemned  the  act  of  her  servant,  we 
could  calculate  safely  on  a  total  change  of  conduct,  on 
the  part  of  her  officers.  Such,  was  in  fact,  the  result. 
There  could  be  no  motive  then  for  an  offensive  adher- 
ence to  these  insulting  interdictions,  except  the  solemn, 
deliberate,  and  abundantly  supported  determination  to 
reject  all  proffers  of  accommodation  from  Great  Britain. 

6th  PROOF. 

THE  PUISSANT  AND  WISE  EMBARGO. 

The  next  measure  of  hostility  to  Great  Britain, 
which  might  equally  be  cited  under  our  second  general 
head  of  devotion  to  France,  was  our  most  puissant  and 
unprecedented  embargo. 

Such  a  measure,  new  in  the  annals  of  civilized  and 
commercial  states,  so  obviously  destructive  to  our- 
selves would  require  some  extraordinary  reason  for  its 
adoption,  ,:«;;  *r   t 

The  infamous  duplicity  with  which  the  measure  was 
recommended,  hardly  had  a  chance  to  strut  its  hour 
upon  the  stage  before  it  was  hissed  off  by  the  people, 
and  abandoned  by  its  authors.  As  a  measure  to  ^^save 
our  resources*^  from  the  grasp  of  the  two  contending 
belligerents,  it  was  ridiculed  almost  before  it  was  pro- 
mulgated, and  was  soon  stripped  of  all  its  deceitful  plu- 
mage, and  made  to  appear  in  its  naked  depravity,  as  a 
publick  attempt  to  starve  the  British  colonies,  and  to  co. 


so 


I 


operate  in  the  French  system  of  destroying  tlic  geneval 
commerce  of  Cireat  Britain. 

The  previous  prophecies  of  such  a  measure  in  France 
— the  adoption  of  it  in  three  days  after  the  arrival  of  the 
dispatches  from  that  country — the  notice  given  by 
our  minister  in  France  to  all  American  vessels,  that  an 
embargo  would  be  imposed — ^the  subsequent  appro- 
bation of  that  measure  by  the  emperor's  agents  Cham- 
pagny  and  Hauterive,  but  above  all  the  Bayonne  decree, 
which  undertook  to  enforce  our  embargo  without  our 
leave,  by  ordering  the  capture  of  all  American  vessels^ 
under  any  circumstances,  all  prove  that  the  measure 
was  solely  intended  to  operate  against  Great  Britain. 

Thus  Mr.  Canning  understood  it,  and  we  cannot  re* 
collect  his  sarcastick  taunts  upon  our  administration,  on 
this  topick,  his  hint  that  **  our  embargo  had  a  most  un- 
accountable and  strange  coincidence  with  tlie  French 
decrees  against  Great  Britain,"  without  blHshin^  for 
the  rulers  of  a  free  and  neutral  country  who  could  just* 
ly  expose  themselves  to  so  lacerating  and  mortifying  a 
reflection. 

I  One  other  idea  we  ought  not  to  overlook  upon  this 
occasion,  that  our  government  which  appears  so  ex- 
tremely  sensible  to  a  proposition  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain,  that  she  may  be  permitted  with  our  leave  to 
enforce  our  non-intercourse  with  France,  in  which  she 
is  so  directly  interested,  should  have  suffered  to  pass 
not  only  without  remonstrance,  but  without  remark,  the 
Bayonne  decree  which  without  asking  our  permission 
undertook  to  enforce  our  municipal  laws« 

u  ,  7th PROOF.  "     /    ;/; 

»  NON-INTERCOUVSB  ACT.  v.      / 


(  **=-■>      ■  P-^.  ■ 


The  continuation  of  the  same  spirit  df  hostility  to 
Great  Britain,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Non-Intercourse 
act.  This  measure  may  be  considered  as  the  feeble 
effort  of  a  par^  driven  by  the  publick  voice  to  abandon 
the  ruinous  policy  of  the  embargo,  which  had  covered 
its  authors  with  shame  and  disgrace ;  and  it  presented 


31 


fresh  proofs  of  their  determination  to  co-operate  with 
France  in  her  scheme  of  destroying  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain.  Its  nominal  impartiality,  not  disguised 
even  in  the  language  of  its  supporters,  who  openly  ex- 
pressed,  during  the  debate,  their  rancorous  hostility  to 
Great  Britain,  did  not  deceive  either  of  the  belligerents. 
By  France  it  was  considered  as  a  loyal  proof  of  our 
hearty  co-operation  in  her  views,  and  by  Great  Britain 
as  another  harmless  though  vindictive  effort  to  paralyze 
her  commerce. 

Its  motives  were  rendered  obvious  by  the  state  of 
the  European  powers  ;  for  while  it  was  apparent  that 
the  effective  blockade  of  the  continent  by  Great  Britain 
would  have  rendered  all  trade  with  France  or  her  allies 
impracticable,  and  therefore  our  non- intercourse  abso- 
lutely a  nullity  as  to  France ;  the  humble  state  of  the 
French  marine  left  the  full  effect  of  our  non- intercourse 
act  to  operate  against  Great  Britain — to  operate  against 
the  only  nation  which  respected  our  flag,  or  which  paid 
the  smallest  regard  in  point  of  fact  ^  though  not  so  much 
in  professions  to  the  neutral  rights  of  America. 

8th  PROOF. 

thb  0ffsn3ivx  terms  used  by  oub  administration  ih  mr. 
erskine's  arrangement. 

Wc  shall  notice  as  an  eighth  proof  of  the  hostility  of 
our  rulers  to  Great  Britain  the  offensive  terms  in  which 
the  arrangement  with  Mr.  Erskine  was  concluded. 

We  shall  omit  for  the  sake  of  brevity  the  other  col- 
lateral circumstances,  lately  developed  which  prove  be- 
yond contradiction  that  this  arrangement  was  concluded 
mala  fide,  (that  is)  without  any  wish  or  expectation  that 
it  would  be  carried  into  effect.  We  shall  of  comse  omit 
to  mention  the  circumvention  of  a  feeble  minister  by 
all  the  members  of  our  cabinet ;  the  hopes  which  they 
led  him  to  entertain  that  all  the  objects  of  his  precise 
instructions  would  be  accomplished  in  an  informal  but 
certain  manner — the  inducements  which  they  held  out 
to  him  with  ill  fwith,  which  he  communicated  to  his 


32 


si 


cabinet,  and  which  formed  the  basis  of  his  instructions 
— the  concluding  an  arrangement  under  tiie  authority 
of  an  act  of  Congress  without  pursuing  the  letter  or  the 
spirit  of  that  act  by  requiring  the  actual  repeal  of  the 
British  orders — the  neglect  to  demand  of  this  minister 
his  special  powers  which  our  own  former  usage  and 
that  of  all  other  nations  rendered  indispensable — and 
the  conclusion  of  .in  agreement,  not  only  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  agent's  powers  or  instructions,  but 
with  the  positive  ktiowledge  that  such  as  he  did  com- 
municate were  expressly  violated.  These  topicks  we 
omit,  because  they  have  been  more  ably  discussed  by 
others.  We  shall  confine  our  objections  in  this  case 
simply  to  the  manner  in  which  the  arrangement  was 
I'jeceived  by  our  cabinet. 

We  shall  therefore  suppose,  that  there  had  been  no 
dark  or  double  views,  in  the  origui  of  the  negociation — 
>ve  shall  suppose  against  what  we  knotu  to  be  the  fact^ 
that  they  believed  Mr..  Erskinc  had  full  powers,  and 
had  a  right  by  the  law  of  nations  to  bind  his  sovereign, 
yet  we  say  that  had  this  been  the  case  our  government 
took  effectual  measures  to  render  the  rejection  of  this 
arrangement  certain. 

If  iVIr.  Erskine  had  pof.sessed  a  full  and  patent  com- 
mission under  the  great  seal — if  he  had  literally  pur- 
sued his  instructions.  Great  Britain  would  not,  France 
would  not,  nor  would  the  United  States,  humbled  as 
they  are  under  the  present  rulers,  under  like  circum- 
stances, have  ratified  the  convention — The  government 
of  the  United  States  in  the  mode  of  accepting  Mr. 
Erskinc's  offers,  made  use  of  such  affrontive  teniis, 
that  its  rejection  was  certain. 

1st.  As  to  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake,  Mr.  Erskinc 
not  only  tendered  the  satisfaction  without  requiring  a 
record  of  the  repeal  of  our  hostile  proclamation,  but  he 
accepted  an  imprudent  and  rash  answer  from  our  secre- 
tary, Mr.  Smith,  in  which  he  insinuates  that  the  satis- 
faction was  unacceptable  at  the  moment  when  it  was 
declared  to  be  accepted,  and  he  impeached  the  honour 


THE    MANI 


33 


of  the  British  Government  by  an  express  and  lui  un- 
necessary declaration,  **  that  it  would  have  been  for 
the  honour  of  his  Brittannick  Majesty,  to  have  punish- 
ed admiral  Berkley."  If  it  would  have  been  for  his 
honour  so  to  have  done,  it  follows  that  it  was  disho'j 
nourablc  not  to  do  it.  ' 

But  are  we  the  keepers  of  his  Brittannick  Majesty'?! 
honour  ?  If  the  tender  of  satisfaction  was  not  agreeable 
to  us,  we  did  wrong  to  accept  it — but  when  we  did  ac- 
cept it  as  a  full  satisfaction,  it  was  impolitick,  it  was 
indecent,  it  was  even  hosttlcy  to  reflect  upon  the  honour 
of  the  other  party,  with  whom  we  had  just  concluded 
an  agreement. 

2dly.  As  to  the  orders  in  council,  our  language  was 
equally  offensive — Great  Britain  had  declared  that  she 
would  not  repeal  her  orders  in  council,  prohibiting^ 
trade  with  France,  until  we  should  adopt  some  mea- 
sure against  France,  which  would  take  the  place  of 
her  orders,  and  render  them  no  longer  necessary — our 
government  (determined  to  take  away  all  apology  for 
Great  Britain  in  yielding  her  system  of  retaliation,)  de- 
clared "  that  our  laws  placing  France  on  a  footing  of 
equality  as  to  non- intercourse,  did  not  arise  from  any 
disposition  to  conciliate  Great  Britain,  but  from  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  considerations.''  h     «» 

Such  has  been  the  untoward  policy  of  our  rulers  ; 
that  at  the  moment  of  apparent  reconciliation  they 
would  remove  from  the  nation  disposed  to  adjust  with 
us  the  only  honourable  grounds  upon  which  she  could 
deviate  from  her  avowed  policy  as  to  her  enemy. 


9th  PROOF. 


A&- 


THE    MAVNBR    IN    VTHICH    THE    DISAVOWAL    Qt    E&SKINS*S 
RANOEMENT  WAS   RECEIVED. 

9th.  The  manner  in  which  the  refusal  of  Great  Brit^ 
ain  to  ratify  Mr.  Erskine's  arrangement  was  received 
by  our  administration  affords  anotherproof  of  their  hos- 
tility to  Great  Britain. 

We  shall  say  nothing  of  the  temper '  in  which  the 
conclusion  of  that  arrangement  was  originally  received 


^ 


by  Mr.  Madison's  party,  nor  of  the  continued  lan- 
guage of  virutcnce  against  Great  Britain,  which  pre- 
vailed during  the  period  when  it  was  uncertain  whe- 
ther it  would  be  ratified  or  rejected.  But  the  clamour 
which  has  been  excited  by  our  rulers,  the  language  of 
Mr,  Smith  in  his  correspondence  with  Mr.  Jackson, 
and  of  Mr.  Madison  in  his  speech,  abundantly  proves 
their  determination  to  seize  every  pretext,  reasonable 
or  unreasonable  to  foment  the  prejudices  against  Great 
Britaio. 

If  a  foreign  government  does  an  act  which  it  has  an 
unquestionable  right  to  do  by  the  law  of  nations,  which 
every  nation  assumes  the  privilege  of  doing,  and  which 
our  own  cabinet  have  frequently  exercised,  that  of  re- 
jecting the  treaties,  conventions,  or  agreements  of  their 
publick  agents,  whether  authorised  or  not  authorised,  is 
It  not  a  proof  of  an  undue  prejudice  against  a  foreign 
nation  to  make  such  an  act  a  source  of  clamour  and 
complaint  ? 

In  the  case  of  Erskine's  arrangement,  the  act  was  not 
only  unauthorised,  not  only  made  without  full  powers, 
but  expressly  contrary  to  instructions — of  all  which  our 
government  were  early  apprized — It  was  not  only 
against  the  principles  recognized  by  all  nations,  but  as 
Vattel  says,  as  cited  by  our  own  minister  Mr.  Smith, 
"  it  might  be  rejected  because  the  British  cabinet  had 
solid  and  weighty  reasons  so  to  do." 

These  solid  and  weighty  reasons  as  to  the  affair  of 
the  Chesapeake  were,  as  we  have  stated,  the  neglect  to 
notice  the  f^eal  of  the  proclamation,  and  the  offensive 
language  in  which  it  was  accepted — And  as  to  the  or- 
ders in  council,  the  neglect  to  stipulate  that  we  would 
continue  the  resistance  to  the  decrees  of  France,  on 
which  condition  alone  did  the  British  cabinet  consent, 
or  could  they  consent  to  repeal  their  orders. 

With  such  abundant  reasons  to  reject  this  arrange- 
ment, with  the  practice  and  conduct  of  all  other  govern- 
ments, and  our  own  especially,  in  their  favour,  what 
greater  proof  can  exist  of  the  dbposition  of  our  cabinet 


35 


to  inflame  tlie  prcjucV'ces  against  Great  Britain,  than 
their  encouniging  the  clamours  against  her,  for  her  re- 
jection of  this  nisli  and  unauthorised  convention  ? 

'loth  PROOF. 

IIEJECTION   OF    MR.  JACKSON. 

lOth.  The  climax y  /imvevery  of  proofs  of  the  fixed 
determination  of  our  government  to  reject  all  the  propo- 
sitions  and  advances  of  G.  Britain,  may  be  found  in  the 
late  unpardieled  rejection  of  Mr.  Jackson.  We  .shall  not 
notice  the  temper  which  was  excited  in  this  coimtry 
against  him,  prior  to  that  gentleman's  arrival,  in  the 
papers  devoted  to  the  administration,  the  attempt  to 
rouse  the  prejudices  of  the  people  against  his  character 
and  views — the  reception  which  he  met  with  upon  his 
arrival  at  Washington — the  interdiction  of  all  verbal 
communications  after  he  had  been  only  one  week  in  his 
negociation — we  find  ample  matter  of  censure  and  alarm 
in  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  administration  to- 
wards him,  the  categorical  and  insulting  manner  in 
which  Mr.  Smith  began  the  correspondence,  the  re- 
peated misrepresentation  of  his  views  and  proposals 
persisted  in  after  he  had  as  repeatedly  disavowed  and 
denied  any  such  views  or  proposals — but  above  all, 
in  the  unfounded  charge  preferred  against  him  of  in- 
decent imputations  which  cannot  be  discovered,  and  in 
the  refusal  to  admit  him  any  longer  to  those  rights 
which  among  all  civilized  nations  have  been  held  sacred 
— This  insult  if  unsupported  and  not  justified  by  his 
conduct,  is  not  an  attack  on  the  honour  of  Mr.  Jackson, 
but  an  affront  to  his  sovereign^  and  to  the  whole  British 
nation — That  it  cannot  be  justified  fs  perfectly  clear,- 
not  only  from  a  perusal  of  the  correspondence — not 
only  from  the  total  failure  of  the  advocates  and  tools  of 
the  administration  in  congress  and  in  the  publick  jour- 
nals to  specify  and  substantiate  the  fact — not  only  in 
the  loose,  ambiguous,  uncertain  terms  of  Mr.  Smith's 
letter  to  Mr.  Pinkitcy,  and  the  still  looser  terms  of  Mr. 
Giles'  resolutions  passed  into  a  law,  but  from  the  very 


56 


ffi ' 


able  and  unanswerable  argument  and  analysis  of  Mr. 
Quincy,  who  in  his  place  in  congress  has  declared  the 
charge  against  Mr.  Jackson  to  ha  false  and  unfounded^ 
and  by  a  critical  examination  hSiS  proved  it  to  be  such. 

This  conduct  of  the  administration  is  not  a  greater 
proof  of  their  hostility  to  Great  Entain,  than  of  their 
sovereign  contempt  for  the  understandings  of  the  peo- 
ple— The  partial  and  prejudiced  manner  in  which  it  was 
first  made  known — the  attempt  to  kindle  the  passions 
of  the  people  before  the  evidence  was  submitted  to 
them — -and  the  utter  disregard  to  their  opinions  ma- 
nifested by  their  neglect  to  explain  or  justify  their  con- 
duct, all  prove  as  well  their  determination  to  keep  up  a 
spirit  of  rancour  towards  Great  Britain,  as  their  reliance 
on  the  devotion  and  blindness  of  their  partizans. 


11th  PROOF 
MR.  Madison's  message. 


*  11.  Mr.  Madison's  message  to  Congress  at  the 
opening  of  the  present  session,  is  another  proof  of  the 
unalterable  determination  of  our  cabinet  to  produce,  it 
not  an  open  rupture,  at  least  an  irreconcileable  breach 
between  us  and  Great  Britain.  In  his  allusion  to  the 
conduct  of  Great  Britain  in  rejecting  Mr.  Erskine's 
arrangement,  he  departs  from  those  forms  of  respect 
for  the  feelings  of  a  foreign  nation  standing  upon  equal 
ground  with  ourselves,  which  are  absolutely  necessary 
to  be  strictly  observed  for  the  » maintenance  of  publick 
peace.  There  is  in  that  message,  if  not  a  direct  charge 
of  perfidy  at  least  such  a  train  of  injurious  imputations,  as 
to  leave  no  doubt  upon  ihe  mind,  that  such  imputations 
were  intended-— .Wc  have  already  in  a  preceeding  arti- 
cle, shewn  that  no  just  cause  of  complaint  existed  against 
the  British  cabinet  for  their  refusal  to  ratify  Mr.  Ers- 
kine's arrangement,  and  that  the  failure  of  that  mea- 
sure is  to  be  attributed  as  well  to  the  neglect  of  our  own 
officers  to  require  Mr.  Erskine's  powers  or  instructions, 
as  to  the  very  offensive  language  inserted  in  the  cor- 
respondence, which  would  have  rendered  the  rejection 


37 


of  it  certain  had  it  been  concluded  vr'iih  full  ptfwers — 
But  there  are  some  other  considerations  which  render- 
ed this  language  of  Mr.  Madison  peculiarly  improper 
and  indelicate  on  our  part.  We  allude  to  the  rejection 
of  the  treaty  made  by  Messrs.  Munroe  and  Pinkney 
with  Great  Britain — Those  ministers  acted  under  full 
and  plenary  powers,  which  the  treaty  recites  were  ex- 
changed with  the  British  commissioners — They  did  not 
violate  their  instructions,  but  on  the  contrary  they  sign- 
ed a  joint  letter  to  the  president  on  the  11th.  of  Novem- 
ber 1806,  in  which  they  say,  "  we  are  aware  that  our 
instructions  impose  on  us  the  necessity  of  providing 
satisfactorily  for  this  great  interest  (the  question  of 
impressment)  as  one  of  the  conditions  on  which  a 
treaty  shall  be  formed — But  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  FAIR  OBJECT  of  that  instruction  will  not  be 
satisfied  by  the  arrangement  thus  made."  In  oth- 
er  words,  the  arrangement  we  have  made  does  fairly 
satisfy  these  instructions  and  conditions — and  after 
this  on  the  27th  of  December,  the  same  ministers 
declare  that  "  they  have  agreed  to  conclude  a  treaty 
on  ALL  the  points  which  had  formed  the  object  of 
their  negociation,"  and  so  Mr.  Jefferson  announced 
it  to  congress  on  the  3d  of  February,  1807. — Yet 
this  treaty  concluded  in  virtue  of  full  powers,  and 
fairly  satisfying  all  the  instructions,  was  rejected  with- 
out the  ceremony  of  submitting  it  to  the  constitutional 
advisers  of  the  president,  the  senate. 

How  did  Great  Britain  receive  this  rejection  ?  Did 
she  vapour,  clamour,  excite  the  publick  resentment  of 
her  subjects  ?  Did  she  charge  us  with  perfidy  ?  Did 
the  British  monarch  so  far  forget  the  dignity  of  his 
office  as  to  convert  his  speech  to  parliament  into  a 
philiippick  against  the  American  government  ? 

No — Far  otherwise,  and  very  opposite  were  his  no- 
tions of  national  rights,  and  of  the  respect  due  to  other 
sovereigns.  Mr.  Canning  in  answer  to  Mr.  Munroe 
and  Mr.  Pinkney's  letter,  when  they  announci^d  the  re- 


t      T^    ■*■*•» 


j»jvr.?"  7^-'^  • 


38 


.'i: 


fusal  to  ratify,  replied,  "  that  although  the  treaty  had 
been  concluded  by  agents  duly  authorised  for  that 
purpose,  yet  that  the  considerations  which  induced 
the  president  to,  reject  it,  were  only  matters  of  discus- 
sion between  him  and  his  own  ministers.  Since  it 
was  not  for  his  majesty  to  enquire  whether  the  Ameri- 
can commissioners  had  failed  to  conform  themselves 
to  their  instructions.  His  majesty  had  no  option^ 
therefore,  but  to  acquiesce  in  the  refusal  of  the  pre- 
sident to  ratify  the  treaty." 

We  make  no  comparison  of  the  relative  dignity  of 
the  proceedings  Of  the  two  rabine<s.  We  should  be 
charged  with  a  disposition  to  debase  our  own  country, 
if  we  should  express  our  sentiments  on  this  occasion, 
but  we  are  at  liberty  to  say^  that  Mr.  Madison  in  this 
part  of  his  speech,  evinced  a  disposition  to  produce  a 
spirit  of  discord  between  uh  and  the  British  cabinet. 

But  Mr.  Madison's  message  is  not  censurable  only 
in  this  particular.  In  his  notice  of  the  negociation  of 
Mr.  Jackson,  he  is  chargeable^  and  has  been  convicted 
hy  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  people  of  all  parties  in 
misrepresenting  the  conduct  of  that  minister.  He  af- 
firms the  fact  of  that  ministers'  injurious  imputations, 
and  we  say,  that  the  total  inability  of  one  party  to  sub- 
stantiate the  charge,  and  the  universal  opinion  of  the 
other,  that  it  is  unfounded,  sufficiently  prove  that  our 
chief  magistrate  has  taken  a  most  unwarrantable  step, 
and  has  evinced  a  most  hostile  temper  towards  Great 
Britain.     • 

PROOF  12. 

,  GILES*  RESOLUTIONS. 

12.  The  next  article  which  we  shall  present  to  the 
consideration  of  the  grand  inquest  for  the  United  States, 
is  the  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Giles,  upon  the 
subject  of  Mr.  JacIcson*s  pretended  insult,  and  which 
includes  a  pledge,  that  the  United  States  will  defend  a 
faulty  administration  in  an  abominable  falsehood. 


M-, 


We  sImU  not  urge  the  impropriety  of  such  an  inter- 
ference of  the  legislature  with  the  power  of  the  execu- 
tive, though  we  are  sensible  that  if  discord  had  existed  . 
between  those  branches,  we  should  have  had  the  con- 
stitutional objections  urged  in  full  force  and  with  abun- 
dant clamour. 

We  shall  not  press  the  extreme  indelicacy  and  im- 
propriety of  approving  the  President's  conduct  by  a 
law,  to  which  he  is  to  accede  as  a  party,  and  the  gross- 
ness  and  absurdity  of  degrading  the  laws,  by  passing  an 
abstract  proposition  into  the  form  of  a  law,  obli- 
gatory on  the  people,  though  it  can  neither  bind  their 
consciences  or  opinions. 

We  shall  omit  to  say^  that  such  a  measure  betrayg 
the  cpnscious  weakness  of  the  grounds  on  which  Mr. 
Jackson  was  dismissed^  and  implies  that  they  were  not 
sufficiently  obvious  to  reach  the  understandings^  anu 
rouse  the  hearts  of  the  people^  and  that  any  insult 
which  requires  the  vote^  the  unsupported  \ote  of  a 
majority  of  congress^  must  be  of  too  questionable  a 
nat  re^,  to  justify  so  outrageous  a  measure  as  the  rejec- 
tion of  a  foreign  minister — nor  shall  we  notice  the  so- 
lemn and  impressive  conclusions  of  the  speeches  of  Mr. 
Quinc)^  and  Mr.  Pitkin^  who  declared  that  they  could 
not  vote  for  the  resolutions,  because  they  thought  they 
contained  a.  deliberate  falsehoody  and  their  obligations 
to  the  supreme  being  were  superior  to  any  calls  of 
party  or  patriotism. 

We  confine  our  objections  solely  to  this  point,  that 
the  tendeucy  and  sole  tendencyj  the  purpose  and  sole 
purpose  of  the  resolution  were  to  provoke  Great  Bri- 
tain to  war.  Such  we  say  was  the  case  upon  the  face 
of  them,  but  we  have  collateral  and  most  undeniable 
evidence  of  it  in  the  -declarations  of  the  author,  Mr. , 
Giles,  who  said  in  debate  that  waVj  would  probably  be 
declared  against  us  by  Great  Britain,  and  if  not^  that 
we  ought  to  declare  war  against  her. 


40 


'SI 


.  u 


We  do  not  know  that  we  can  add  an^  ililng  to  this 
bitter,  cotemporaneous  exposition  of  the  resolutions  by 
their  inflammatory  author. 

PROOF  13. 

MR.  MACOn's    bill. 

-  13th.  Mr.  Macon's  bill,  comes  in  for  its  share  of  in- 
fluence and  weight,  in  proving  the  pertinacious  adher- 
ence of  the  present  Government,  to  their  system  of  hos- 
tility to  Great  Britain. 

Whether  the  administration  arc,  or  are  not  sincere 
ih  their  wish  to  procure  the  adoption  of  this  bill,  it  is 
clear  that  their  partizans  in  congress  are  only  di'  Ided 
upon  the  question,  whether  the  people  of  the  tJRited 
States,  shall  be  scourged  with  this,  or  with  some  more 
Ibostile  project  against  Great  Britain. 
*  We  say  scourged,  because  experience  has  proved, 
that  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States,  are 
best  promoted  by  a  good  understanding  with  Great 
Britain,  and  all  the  foolish  and  passionate  attempts  to 
sever  the  commercial  connection  of  the  two  countries, 
(vvhich  common  habits,  feelings,  ancestry,  language, 
interests,  and  heaven  itself,  have  rendered  intimate,) 
have  only  reverted  with  double  force  against  ourselves. 
^  It  appears  then,  that  Macon's  bill  is  the  test  mea- 
sure which  the  hostility  of  our  democratick  rulers  will 
permit  us  to  have — How  much  calculated  this  best 
measure  is,  for  the  promotion  of  our  best  interests,  we 
may  judge  from  its  being  opposed  by  all  the  friends  of 
commerce  in  the  house  of  representatives — In  its  ope- 
ration, like  its  sister  furies,  the  embargo  and  non-inter- 
course, it  would  alone  affect  Great  Britain,  were  it 
possible  that  she  could  submit  to  it. 

By  holding  out  the  irritating  and  humiliating  idea 
that  she  shall  enjoy  our  commerce  as  a  boon  solely  on 
our  own  terms,  and  those  terms  amounting  to  the  in- 
terdiction of  her  publick  and  merchant  flag,  we  rcndrr 
it  certain  that  she  will  retaliate. 


41 


Thus  then  the  long  desired  object  of  France  and  of 
the  partizans  of  France  in  this  country,  will  be  attain- 
ed, a  rigid  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  enforc- 
ed, not  by  American  energies,  but  by  the  British — Thus 
too,  it  is  vainly  hoped  that  the  odium  of  this  measure 
may  be  transferred  from  our  cabinet  to  that  of  St. 
James's. 

It  is  not  however  certain  that  Macon's  bill  will  event- 
ually pass,  and  the  doubt  arises  not  from  any  good  dis- 
position towards  Great  Britain,  but  from  a  fear  in  the 
minds  of  the  administration,  that  this  measure  will  not 
be  deemed  sufficiently  hostile  by  either  Great  Britain 
or  France—The  only  division  in  the  democratick  par- 
ty, arises  from  this  cause — none  of  them  oppose  it  ber 
cause  it  is  too  hostile  in  its  tendency. 

PROOF  14.  '^ 

HOSTILE    LANGUAGE   TO    GREAT    BRITAIN. 

14th.  Wc  now  pass  to  the  last  proof,  which  we 
shall  cite  of  the  hostile  propensity  of  our  administra- 
tion, towards  Great  Britain,  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  irritating  language  of  the  government — of  its 
ministers — and  its  partizans  in  congress,  towards  that 
nation,  its  government  and  ministry. 

We  do  not,  it  is  perceived,  descend  into  the  notorious 
virulence  and  abuse  of  the  party  journals,  and  of  the 
democratick  orator<t,  dispersed  throughout  the  United 
States — such  a  picture  would  be  too  disgraceful  in  a 
neutral  country,  for  any  Patriot  to  delineate. 

The  real  character  of  an  administration,  and  its  dis- 
position to  maintain  a  fair  and  impartial  neutrality,  are 
perhaps  as  well  ascertained  by  its  relative  language  to- 
wards the  great  belligerents  as  by  its  acts*  Either 
mode  of  enquiry  will  lead  to  the  same  result  as  to  the 
disposition  of  our  present  rulers,  and  will  equally  prove 
their  fatal  subserviency  to  the  views  of  France,  and 
their  hostility  to  Great  Britain. 


i;v^.: 


4i2 


We  forbear  to  Examine  the  proofs  of  this  partiality 
in  their  early  administration,  but  we  shall  confine  our- 
selves  to  their  relative  language  to  the  two  belligerents, 
in  relation  to  the  decrees  and  orders  which  form  the 
most  prominent  and  interesting  subjects  of  present  dis- 
cussion. 

We  shall  state,  under  our  next  general  head,  the 
mean  and  dastardly  submission  to  France,  in  relation 
to  her  decrees ;  but  at  present,  we  shall  only  notice  the 
high  and  indignant  tone  which  they  have  adopted  to> 
wards  Great  Britain,  whose  government  has  been  guil- 
ty of  the  unpardonable  sin  of  retaliating,  after  twelve 
months  notice,  in  a  very  inferior  degree,  the  unjust 
decrees  of  France. 

We  have  said  in  a  very  inferior  degree,  and  in  order 
to  judge  correctly  of  the  nature  and  justice  of  the  lan- 
guage used  towards  Great  Britain,  it  may  be  useful, 
and  indeed  necessary,  to  compare  the  French  decrees, 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  imposed 
with  the  British  orders  in  council,  and  the  modifica- 
tions which  have  since  taken  place  of  those  orders. 

In  November,  1806,  we  were  not  only  in  a  state  of 
peace  and  avowed  amity  with  France,  but  we  had  a 
treaty  with  that  nation,  which  regulated  our  commer- 
cial rights,  as  far  as  treaties  can  regulate  or  controul  a 
faithless  and  perfidious  conqueror.  By  this  treaty  it 
jWas  stipulated, 

1st.  That  even  enemies  property  in  American  vessels 
should  bo  exempt  from  capture.  The  only  enemy  of 
France  at  that  time  was  Great  Britain  ;  and  the  stipu- 
lation amounted  therefore  to  this ;  that  British  proper- 
ty ^  avowed  to  be  such,  should  find  a  secure  asylum  un- 
der our  flag. 

2d.  That  the  right  of  blockade  should  be  limited  to 
the  case  of  an  actual  investment  of  the  blockaded  port, 
by  a  competent  naval  force. 

-     3d.  That  we  should  have  a  right  to  trade  freely  to  and 

from  the  ports  of  any  and  all  the  belligerents,  without 

molestation  or  impediment,   and  since^  as  we   have 


43 

»bove  stated,  the  only  belligerents  at  tliat  time,  were 
France  and  Great  Britain,  we  had  the  solemn  faith  of 
France,  that  we  should  be  permitted  to  trade  freely  from 
the  ports  of  Great  Britain  to  those  of  France,  without 
molestation  or  hindrance. 

To  admit  that  France  could  lawfully  impede  this 
commerce,  upon  the  pretext  of  making  municipal regU' 
lations,  would  be  to  concede,  that  she  could  at  pleasure 
violate  her  stipulations  with  us,  when  we  had  released 
to  her,  as  the  price  of  these  concessions  on  her  part,  all 
our  claims  upon  her  for  preceding  captures. 

We  shall  not  deny,  that  if  subsequent  to  the  treaty 
we  had  failed  to  perform  any  of  the  conditions  of  it,  or 
if  we  had  submitted  to  any  aggressions  of  Great  Britain, 
or  to  any  new  principles  which  she  had  set  up,  hostile 
to  the  interests  of  France,  after  due  notice  given  to  us 
of  a  determination  to  retaliate,  she  would  have  had  a 
just  right  to  consider  the  treaty  violated. 

No  such  pretence  is  set  up  by  France  or  her  friends. 
The  fact  is  notoriously  otherwise.  Between  1800, 
when  the  treaty  with  France  was  made,  and  1806, 
when  the  infamous  decree  of  Berlin  was  promulgated. 
Great  Britain  set  up  no  principle  which  she  did  not  ex- 
ercise at  the  moment  when  the  treaty  was  ratified. 
Much  less  can  it  be  pretended  that  France  ever  urged 
any  complaint  on  this  subject  and  required  our  resist- 
ance. 

The  decree  of  Berlin  then  was  a  gross  violation  of  our 
rights,  without  apology  or  pretext,  except  its  advance- 
ment of  the  emperor's  objects  against  Great  Britain.    ? 

Far  otherwise  was  the  situation  of  Great  Britain. 
Bound  to  us  by  no  stipulations,  restrained  by  no  con- 
tract, she  was  at  liberty  to  exercise  the  law  of  retalia- 
tion, provided  she  took  all  the  previous  measures  which 
the  law  of  nations  rendered  indispensable.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1806,  she  notified  our  government  of  her  intention 
to  retaliate  the  French  decrees,  unless  we  should  adopt 
some  measure  of  resistance,  which  should  render  her 
retaliation  unnecessary.     She  did  not  require  measures 


I 


44  ' 

of  hostility.  She  did,  no^  li^e  Bonaparte^  indicate  the 
degree  and  course  of  resistance.  She  did  not  declare 
"  that  we  were  at  war  with  France."  She  only  reposed 
on  our  good  faith  that  we  would  adopt  some  counter- 
vailing laws,  which  would  counteract  this  gross  viola- 
tion of  our  rights. 

She  waited  twelve  months,  in  vain,  for  any  such 
spirit  of  resistance,  and  she  then  adopted  a  comparative- 
ly mild  course  of  retaliation. 

How  far  it  was  comparatively  mild  may  be  seen  by  the 
following  distinction. 

By  the  French  decree,  all  the  British  islands  were  de- 
clared in  a  state  of  seige  by  land  and  sea,  while  not  a  sin- 
gle shi])  blockaded  the  ports  of  those  islands. 

By  the  British  orders  the  Europ^ean  territories  of 
France  only  and  of  her  allies,  who  had  adopted  the 
same  decrees  were  declared  to  be  blockaded,  and  they 
had  an  actual  blockading  force,  sufficient  to  bring  them 
within  the  rules  adopted  by  the  armed  neutrality, 
which  rendered  blockades  legal,  where  the  blockading 
force  was  sufficiently  great  to  render  the  entry  immi- 
nently  dangerous. 

The  French  decrees  gavfe  no  notice  to  the  innocent 
or  ignorant  neutral,  but  condemned  equally,  the  inno- 
cent and  the  guilty. 

The  British  orders  allowed  so  reasonable  a  time,  that 
no  innocent  neutral  could  possibly  fall  within  their  op- 
eration. 

The  French  decrees  extended  to  all  the  British  colo- 
nies in  her  West  Indies. 

The  British  orders  left  free  our  trade  with  the  colo- 
nies of  the  enemy,  so  important  to  our  citizens. 

By  a  second  French  decree  of  Milan,  all  British  goods 
even  when  purchased  by  neutrals,  are  made  good  prize. 
All  vessels  bound  to  or  from  British  ports  are  equally 
subjected.  And  to  cap  the  chmax  of  perfidy  and  insult, 
of  unexampled  tyranny  and  injustice,  all  bona  fide 
American  property  of  An>erican  growth   is  declared 


\y  }&  tl  .■*vr.li*Jf.,,<4S,'*S,V 


,  _t    »■.«.»(*-)( 7«  7 


45 


hvvful  prize,  if  the  ship  has  been  visited  by  a  superior 
British  force. 

This  last  decree,  the  morality  and  justice  of  the  Brit- 
ish cabinet  would  not  permit  them  to  retaliate.  They 
would  prefer  at  once  open  hostility,  rather  than 
thus  to  violate  the  most  fundamental  principles  of 
justice.  '^ 

Unretaliated  as  this  Berlin  decree  was,  and  unfounded 
as  could  be  any  pretext  for  any  other  aggression,  Bona- 
parte found  the  means  of  doing  it  under  our  embargo 
act.  Whether  this  measure  was  the  result  of  a  secret 
stipulation  or  treaty  between  our  cabinet  and  him  we 
know  not ;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  could  have  no  other 
pretence  for  the  decree  of  Bayonne,  "  which  declared 
every  American  vessel,  found  in  whatever  situation  on 
the  high  seas,  lawful  prize,  inasmuch  as  by  the  laws  of 
the  U.  States,  she  had  no  right  to  traverse  the  ocean." 

Great  Britain,  so  far  from  retaliating  this  unexam- 
pled piece  of  affront  and  injury,  on  the  26th  of  April 
last,  of  her  own  free  accord,  and  without  any  stipula- 
tions on  our  part,  repealed  her  orders  in  council  of  Nov. 
1807 ;  yes  we  say,  th,at  in  April  last,  she  actually  re- 
pealed the  orders,  of  which'we  still  hear  so  much  com- 
plaint, and  issued  a  new  order  of  limited  blockade.  The 
British  orders  of  Nov.  1807,  no  longer  exist.  The 
new  orders  amount  to  a  specifick  blockade  of  that  part 
of  the  continent  only  which  has  been  conquered  by 
France,  and  is  held  by  her  feudatories.  By  this  modi- 
fication, Spain,  Portugal,  Denmark,  Russia,  Sweden, 
and  part  of  Italy  were  thrown  open  to  our  trade.  All 
Bonaparte's  decrees  remain  unmodified  and  unaltered, 
and  what  is  most  strange,  even  the  Bayonne  decree, 
founded  on  our  embargo,  is  still  in  force. 

Having  taken  this  short  view  of  the  relative  conduct 
of  the  two  belligerents,  let  us  now  see  what  language 
our  cabinet  have  adopted  towards  Great  Britain,  the 
least  offending  party,  if  she  offends  at  all. 

The  news  of  the  British  retaliating  orders  reached 
our  cabin<:^t  on  the  3d  of  February,  180.8,  and  though 


p>l 


iil^ 


i"f. 


1 


46 

they  had  been  silent  as  to  the  French  aggressions  for  sev. 
eral  months,  and  a'  remonstrance  was  presented  by  our 
minister  for  12  months,  yet  on  the  22a  of  March,  1808, 
Mr.  Madison  (though^  sick  and  feeble,  as  he  says)  found 
spirit  and  energy  enough  to  write  to  Great  Britain,  not 
as  he  had  written  to  France^  "  that  the  decrees  were  a 
municipal  regulation,  throwing  a  cloud  over  the  amity 
between  the  two  countries,"  but  that  "  they  [the  Brit, 
ish  orders]  violated  our  rights  and  stabbed  o\xtmtttt%% 
and  that  under  the  name  of  indulgences  they  superad- 
ed  a  blow  at  our  national  independence,  and  a  mockery 
of  our  understanding." 

This  we  should  call  pretty  plain,  if  not  bitter  lan> 
guage.  In  April,  1808,  Mr.  Madison  a^in  tells  Mr. 
Pinkney,  "  that  in  not  regarding  the  British  orders  as 
acts  oi  hostility,  and  in  trustmg  to  the  motives  and  means 
(the  embargo  laid  and  enforced  by  the  request  of  France) 
to  which  they  have  appealed,  the  United  States  had 
given  a  signal  proof  of  their  love  of  peace." 

This  impartial  administration  then,  that  had  submit- 
ted to  the  French  decrees,  so  much  more  inexcusable, 
for  12  months,  singly  remarking,  that  they  "  served  to 
throw  a  cloud  over  the  amity  of  the  two  nations,"  thought 
they  gave  a  signal  proof  of  moderation  in  not  declaring 
war  against  Great  Britain. 

In  like  manner  to  Mr.  Erskine,  on  the  25th  of  March, 
1808,  Mr.  Madison,  speaking  of  the  relaxation  of 
the  British  decrees,  made  on  purpose  to  accommodate 
them  to  our  feelings,  says,  **  I  forbear,  sir,  to  express 
all  the  emotions  with  which  such  a  language  (the  inti' 
mation  of  their  desire  to  pacify  us)  is  calculated  to  in- 
spire a  nation,  which  cannot  for  a  moment  be  uncon- 
scious  of  its  rights,  nor  mistake  for  an  alleviation  of  its 
wrongs,  regulations,  to  admit  the  validity  of  which, 
would  be  to  assume  the  badges  of  humiliation."       * 

So  then,  this  high  minded  administration,  which, 
with  regard  to  France,  had  not  only  been  unmindful  of 
its  rights  for  twelve  months^  but  had  forborn  to  do  any 
act  which  would  thicken  the  cloud  which  hung  over 


the  amity  of  the  two  nations,  cannot  even  for  a  mo  me  if  t 
be  unconscious  of  its  rights, 'in  relation  to  the  retaliat- 
ing measures  of  Great  JSritain. 

We  have  noticed  Mr.  Madison's  speech,  and  Mr. 
Giles*  resolutions  under  a  former  head.  It  will  be 
seen,  that  in  these,  this  high  language  of  indignation  is 
in  no  degree  relaxed,  but  on  the  contrary,  gradually 
advancing  towards  a  climax  of  insult  and  reproach, 
not  only  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the  nation,  but  to- 
tally inconsistent  with  the  preservation  of  peace.  It 
belongs  to  our  next  general  head,  to  contrast  this  stud- 
ied language  of  provocation  to  Great  Britain,  with  the 
mild  demeanour  of  the  same  gentleman  towards  France, 
and  it  will  be  for  the  people  to  decide  whether  we  are  to 
ascribe  this  difference  to  the  respective  conduct  of  the 
belligerents,  or  to  a  partial  and  prejudiced  feeling  to- 
wards the  respective  parties. 


ll.-^SUBSERVIENCY  TO  FRANCE.       ^* 

We  proceed  to  the  second  general  division  of  our 
subject,  the  object  of  which,  is  to  shew  the  submission 
of  our  present  and  late  administration  to  France ;  and 
their  complete  subserviency  to  the  views  of  the  emperor, 
which,  however  caused,  whether  proceeding  from  par- 
tiality, fear,  or  corruption,  inevitably  tend  to  the  dis- 
grace and  ruin  of  our  country,  are  utterly  subversive 
of  our  commercial  rights,  and  will  prove  highly  dan- 
gerous, if  not  fatal  to  our  peace,  property,  and  liberties. 


1st  PROOF. 

MEAN  LAKGUAOS  OF  OUR  MINISTSKS  IN  FRANCE. 


'J!^: 


The  first,  and  one  of  the  earliest  proofs  of  the  par- 
tiality and  submission  of  our  administration  to  France, 
and  which  has  continued  to  the  present  day  is  the  un- 
exampled meanness  of  the  language  of  our  ministers, 
at  the  court  of  Bonaparte.     Among  the  whole  host  of 


m 


H 


ambassadors  Ironi  the  new  made,  tributary,  and  vassal 
kings,  who  surround  the  throne  of  this  nionarcli- mak- 
ing emperor,  there  is  no  single  representative,  who  has 
exhibited  a  more  humble,  submissive  temper,  or  adopt- 
cd  language  of  more  fulsome  adulation,  than  the  Amcr- 
ican  ministers  in  France,  nor  did  ever  the  ambussa. 
dors  from  a  conquered  prince  experience  such  marked 
and  so  frequently  repeated  insults  and  indignities,  as 
have  been  received  by  our  ministers,  at  the  imperial 
court. 

We  need  only  call  the  recollection  of  our  readers  to 
the  force  which  Bonaparte  chose  to  gee  up  for  the 
amusement  of.  Europe,  and  to  cover  the  infamous  mur 
der  of  the  duke  d'Enghien,  a  measure  which  involved 
the  most  unexampled  violation  of  territorial  soverei;^n. 
ty,  as  well  as  the  blackest  species  of  assassination — Un- 
der pretence  that  Mr.  Drake,  one  of  the  British  minis- 
ters on  the  continent  had  been  concerned  in  a  conspira- 
cy against  his  Itfcy  the  emperor  caused  letters  to  be 
written  to  the  publick  ministers  representing  the  seve- 
ral tributary  countries  at  his  court,  stating  what  he  pre- 
tended to  be  the  facts,  and  requesting  their  opinions  in 
order  to  excite  an  odium  against  the  British  cabinet — 
It  was  received  by  these  mock  representatives  of  sov- 
reignty  as  a  mandate  to  calumniate  the  British  govern- 
ment,  and  accordingly  they  vied  with  each  other  in  their 
efforts  of  malignant  censure  against  that  cabinet,  but 
it  is  universally  allowed,  that  the  palm  was  gained  by 
our  minister,  Mr.  Livingston,  both  for  the  spirit  of  bit- 
terness which  he  manifested  towards  Great  Britain,  and 
of  meanness  and  submission  to  the  emperor.* — Russia 
and  Sweden  at  that  time  had  not  bowed  their  necks  to 
the  yoke,  and  Mr.  Marcoff,  the  Russian  minister,  as  well 
as  the  minister  from  Sweden,  refused  to  join  in  this 
most  infamous  and  unprecedented  measure. — Nothing 
could  be  plainer  than  the  duty  of  a  minister  from  a  neu- 
tral country  in  such  a  case. — He  should  have  replied, 

*  Sec  note  and  remarks  on  this  subject  at  the  end  of  this  work. 


''  that  the  situation  in  which  his  country  stood  in  rcla- 
tion  to  the  two  contending  powers,  rendered  it  improper, 
for  him  to  express  any  opinion  in  such  a  delicate  case, 
that  even  if  the  neutral  state  should  interpose  as  an  um- 
pire, it  would  be  its  duty  to  hear  the  other  side  in  its 
defence  before  k  shoi^ld  undertake  to.  criminate  it.'* 

This  measure  of  unprecedented  baseness,  on  the 
part  of  our  minister  in  1^  ranee  gave  serious  umbrage  to 
Great  Britain,  and  the  writer  of  this  article  ^nows  from 
the  high  authority  of  Col.  Munroe,  that  a  demand  of 
satisfaction  was  secretly  made  upon  our  goverment, 
which  we  are  well  assured  has  been  since  given, 
by  a  letter  of  disavowal  of  the  act  of  Mr.  Livingston, 
and  probably  by  his  recall.  It  is  not  the  custom  in 
Great  Briti^n,  to  fill  their  official  papers  with  abuse, 
against  other  nation^  in  such  cases,  nor  for  their  mem- 
bers of  parliament  to  vie  with  each  other  in  inflammatory 
language,  as  to  the  disavowed  wrongs  and  injuries, 
committed  by  even  a.  publick  minister.* 

Another  instance  of  base  and  derogatory  language 
will  be  found  in  Mr.  Livingston's  memorial  to  Bona- 
parte, to  induce  him  to  sell  us  the  Spanish  property  of 
Louisiana.  We  sliall  explain  why  we  call  this  the 
Spanish  propertUy  when  we  come  to  the  more  particu- 
lar question  of  this  purchase. 

Our  only  objept  of  citing  it  now  is  to  shew,  the  strain 
ia  which  our  ministers  have  treated  with  France. 
There  are  in  this  memorial  some  unjustifiable  strokes 
of  hostility  to  Great  Britain  as  well  as  constant  strain  of 
adulation  to  Bonaparte.      i 

For  particulars  see  extracts  from  this  memorial  in  the 
notes  hereto  annexed. 

Mr.  Armstrong's  correspondence  with  the  French 
government  is,  in  many  respects,  as  censurable  as  those 
of  Mr.  Livingston.  When  he  received  intelligence  of 
the  burning  of  our  vessels  on  the  high  seas,  by  rear  ad- 
miral Baudin,  in  contravention  not  only  of  the  laws  and 

*  Sec  notes. 


::| 


56 

usages  of  nations,  but  of  the  Freiich  liodi  of  iii?iritinie 
capture,,  and  when  the  property  plundered  from  these 
vessels  was  actually  libelled  in  the  French  courts,  Gen. 
Armstrong  addressed  a  letter  to  count  Champagny,  in 
which  so  fur  from  intimating  his  horror  at  such  ^  bar. 
barous  infraction  of  the  law  of  nations,  so  far  from  say- 
ing, as  had  been  said  to  Great  Britain  in  a  questionable 
case,  that  tlM  United  States  "  could  not  for  a  moment 
submit  to  jSch  infractions  of  their  rights  ;*^  he  simply 
asks  "  whether  his  Majesty's  government  does  or  does 
not  justify  the  conduct  of  rear  admiral  Baudin,  in  bum. 
ing  or  otherwise  destroying,  on  the  high  seas,  the  ships 
and  merchandize  of  a  neutral  and  friendly  power?" 
This  letter  \vas  dated  July  10th,  1808.  No  answer  has 
ever  been  made  to  this  modest  question,  or  at  least 
none  has  been  published.  It  does  not  appcar.that  the 
question  was  ever  again  resumed,  nor,  although  the 
practice  has  been  frequently  repeated,  have  any  further 
complaints  been  madey  nor  has  the  President  deemed 
it  of  sufHcient  consequence  even  to*  allude  to  it  in  his 
messages.  We  shall,  when  we  come  to  the  infamous 
report  of  Mr.  Secretary  Smith,  made  art  the  present  ses- 
sion, shew  that  he  has  omitted  all  notice  of  these  out- 
rages,  when  he  was  directed  to  report  all  the  cases  of 
the  aggressions  of  the  several  belligerents. 

Mr.  Armstrong,  again,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1808, 
addressed  Mr.  Champagny  on  the  subject  of  our 
wrongs ;  and  here  he  most  explicitly  justifies  the  decree 
of  Berlin,  by  saying,  that  "  his  majesty  has  a  right  to 
make  such  viunicipal  regulations  as  lie  may  deem  prop- 
er with  regard  to  foreign  commerce.*' 

In  other  words,  although  by  the  French  treaty  with 
us,  we  had  given  up  claims  to  the  amouht  of  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  in  order  to  pureliase  the  right  to 
trade  freely,  to,  from,  and  between  all  the  belligerehts, 
yet  his  majesty  had  a  right  to  deprive  us  of  this  privi- 
lege under  the  pretext  of  municipal  regulations.  All 
the  seizures,  therefore,  of  our  property,  the  imprison- 
ment of  our  citizens  are  acknowledged  to  be  legal  by 


51 

this,  our  nominal  representative,  but  real  tool  of  the 
emperor  of  France. 

That  Gen.  Armstrong  acted  in  these  cases  under  the 
orders  of  the  administration ;  that  he  knew  that  he  was 
promoting  their  wishes  by  this  suppliant  and  submis- 
sive language,  and  these  infamous  concessions  is  appa- 
rent from  Mr.  Madison*s  instructions  to  him. 

Mr.  Madison,  in  his  letter  of  May  22d,  1807,  which 
is  the  only  one  of  which  we  have  any  extracts  for  near- 
ly twelve  months,  speaking  of  the  indiscriminate  cap- 
ture of  our  ships  by  France,  in  the  West  Indies,  six 
months  prior  to  the  British  retaliating  orders,  simply 
remarks,  "  that  these  measures  will  of  course  thicken 
the  cloud  that  hangs  over  the  amity  of  the  two  nations." 

In  his  next  letter,  of  February  8,  1808,  he  admits 
the  right  of  France  to  interdict  our  trade  between 
Great  Britain  and  France,  and  that  the  Berlin  decree 
only  required  "  seasonable  explanations  of  its  doubtful 
importy  or  friendly  expostulations  as  to  the  suddenness 
and  rigor  of  its  innovations^ 

Here  it  is  admitted,  that  the  Berlin  decree  is  an  inno- 
vation, that  it  was  sudden  and  rigorous  in  its  oper- 
ation. In  fact,  it  was  a  most  high  handed  interpolation 
in  international  law ;  it  was  a  gross  infraction  of  our 
treaty  with  France.  It  was  sudden  in  its  operation,  be- 
ing extended  to  the  innocent  neutral,  who  should  enter 
French  ports  without  any  notice  of  its  existence.  It 
was  rigorous  in  its  punishments,  amounting  to  confis- 
cation of  the  property,  and  the  imprisonment  of  the  in- 
nocent crew,  as  if  they  had  been  felons,  and  yet  all  this 
perfidy  and  tyranny  only  demanded  "  friendly  expostU' 
lations.^* 

In  the  same  letter,  Mr.  Madison,  speaking  of  the  sei- 
zure of  American  property  in  neutral  ana  free  states 
where  it  had  been  sent  prior  to  the  promulgation  of  the 
decree,  and  under  the  sanction  of  the  law  of  nations, 
simply  remarks,  that  our  citizens  had  been  vexed  by 
regulations  subaltern  to  the  Berlin  decree,  and  submits 
it  to  Mr.  Armstrong  how  far  these  measures  are  inequit- 


m 


5i 


itt.  i 


able  and  unfriendly  and  alio  the  kind  of  reptesentation 
AS  hich  it  might  be  proper  to  make. 

Mr.  Madison's  letter  of  May  2d,  1808,  takes  up  the 
insolent  order  oi*  Bonaparte,  that  we  should  declare  war 
against  Britain.  Here  the  secretary  was  roused  to  a 
seeming  spirit  of  resentment,  and  after  stating  in  mild 
terms,  that  such  language  **  had  the  air  of  an  assumed 
authority,"  and  that  it  was  impolitick,  "  because  irri- 
tating to  the  publick  feelings,"  in  othci  words,  because 
it  tended  to  silence  the  friends  of  France,  and  to  dcr 
stroy  their  inifluence,  the  secretary  adds,  ^*  taking  care ^ 
as  your  discretion  will  doubtless  suggest,  that  whilst 
you  make  that  government  sensible  of  the  offensive  tone 
employed,  you  leave  the  way  open  for  friendly  and  re. 
spectful  explanations,  if  there  be  a  disposition  to  offer 
thcmy 

No  such  friendly  and  respectful  explanations  have 
ever  been  made,  and  yet  the  last  we  hear  of  this  ir^o^ 
lent  language  is  in  this  cautious  and  submissive  htt^ 
These  are  the  men  who  have,  with  critical  and  faPi  \ 
ous  refinement  discovered  an  indiscoverable  insult  ... 
the  language  of  the  Britisii  minister,  and  instead  of  re- 
quiring friendly  explanations,  or  receiving  them  when 
offered,  have  adopted  a  measure  which  is  the  usual  pre- 
cursor of  war. 

On  the  subject  of  the  burning  of  our  ships,  Mr.  Mad- 
ison  simply  remarked,  **  that  it  was  the  most  distressing 
of  all  the  modes  by  which  belligerents  exercised  force 
contrary  to  right,"  thus  using  an  epithet  applicable  to 
the  sufferer,  instead  of  indignant  expressions  of  the  in- 
justice of  the  culprit.  Such  i^  the  language  of  our  im- 
partial cabinet  towards  France. 


Sd  PROOF. 


SUBMISSION  TO  TURREAU's  IKSOLENT  LETTERS  AS  TO  THE  ST.  DO- 
-     .<      MINGO  TRADE,  AND  THE  CONSEQUENT  INTERDICTIONS 
V  OF  A  LAWFUL  COMMERCE. 

The  second  proof  we  shall  cite  of  the  shameful  sub- 
piission  of  our  government  to  France,  of  their  disposi- 


53 


tion  not  only  to  relinquish  our  just  rights,  but  to  do  it 
under  the  most  mortifying  and  humiliating  threats  of 
France,  is  the  interdiction  of  tlie  trade  to  St.  Domingo, 
at  the  order f  not  the  request  of  the  French  minister, 
couched  in  terms  the  most  insolent  and  offensive. 

The  people  of  the  north  were  not  sojmuch  interested 
in  this  trarack  as  those  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
and  our  brethren  in  the  interior)  perhaps,  do  not  fully 
comprehend  this  question. 

The  island  of  St.  Domingo  was  once  a  colony  of 
France ;  it  was  peopled,  chiefly,  frbm  that  part  of  the 
human  race,  whom  the  spirit  of  avarice,  against  every 
moral  and  religious  principle,  have  doomed  to  slavery. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  French  revolution  they  made  a 
great,  blooidy,  and  savage  struggle  to  regain  their  natu- 
ral rights,  and,  we  trust  and  believe,  that  no  man  in  a 
christian  or  a  free  country,  can  question  the  justice  of 
their  caus6. 

Whether  just  or  not  just,  it  is  out  of  the  power  of 
France  to  dispute  it,  since  the  same  authority  under 
which  Bonaparte  pretends  to  hold  his  sceptre  sanction- 
ed their  revolution,  declared  them  to  be  free,  and  ad* 
mitted  them  to  the  privilege  of  representation  in  the 
national  assembly.  Thus  then,  they  stood  in  a  higher 
state  of  relation  to  the  parent  country,  than  the  colonies 
of  America  did  to  Great  Britain  before  the  war,  for  the 
latter  were  not  admitted  to  a  representation  in  parlia- 
ment. Thus  happy,  free^  and  independent,  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  of  a  free  colony,  Bonparte,  I>y  one  of 
the  basest  iacts  of  treachery,  kidnapp^  and  murdered 
their  executive  chief,  the  victorious  Toussaint.  From 
this  moment,  without  pretext  of  rebellion  on  their  part, 
he  waged  a  most  unprincipled  W2S  upon  them,  with  a 
view  to  reduce  them,  not  to  a  colonial  state,  but  to  a 
state  of  absolute  slavery.  So  far,  then,  the  war  was  an 
unjust  and  terrible  one,  and  it  is  laid  down  by  all  wri- 
ters on  the  law  of  nations^  that  every  nation  has  a  right 
to  join,  to  aid,  to  foster  the  oppressed  in  such  a  conjiict,^ 


V\ 


54 


That  France  was  not  able  to  reduce  this  eolony  to 
slavery,  the  event  has  shewn.  It  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  she  will  ever  be  able  so  to  do.  The  most  un- 
questionable  principle  of  the  law  of  nations,  is,  that  you 
liave  a  right  to  consider  the  government  de  facto,  (the 
existing  government)  as  the  legitimate  one.  Of  all  na- 
tions, France  and  the  United  States  are  the  very  last 
who  should^ dispute  this  principle.  When  the  chance 
of  our  success  was  infinitely  more  uncertain  than  that 
of  the  citizens  of  St.  Domingo,  France  lent  us  money, 
France  published  a  manifesto  to  the  world,  in  which 
she  asserted  the  right  to  assist  rebellious  colonies,  when- 
ever it  should  be^  apparent  that  they  were  able  to  a- 
chieve  their  independence.  We  then,  of  all  people  in  the 
globe,  who  courted,  who  received  this  countenance 
and  support,  ought  to  be  the  last,  within  thirty  short 
years,  to  deny  the  principle,  and  to  join  the  ban- 
ners  of  a  tyrannical  invader.  These  ideas  are  equally 
applicable  to  the  present  struggle  in  Spain,  and  we  beg 
our  readers  to  recollect  them,  when  we  come  to  that 
more  shameful  example  of  our  apostacy,  from  the  prin- 
ciples  of  our  own  revolution,  and  that  other  proof  oi 
our  dastardly  submission  to  France. 

But  as  to  our  trade  to  Hayti,  or  St.  Domingo,  it  did 
not  rest  on  this  basis  alone,  though  sufficiently  strong, 
it  stood  upon  the  broader  ground  of  commercial  free- 
dom. 

^  It  was  not  a  question  whether  our  government  should 
aid  or  assist  the  unhappy  people  of  St.  Domingo 
struggling  for  their  liberties.  The  base,  sordid,  and 
timid  policy  of  our  rulers  never  aspired  to  so  noble  a 
thought. 

The  question  simply  was,  whether  we  should,  by  our 
own  laws,  prohibit  a  profitable  trade  (whether  in  con- 
traband  articles  or  not)  which  France,  by  her  complaints 
confessed  herself  unable  to  restrain.  ,|;.i^. 

Here  then  we  may  triumpliantly  challenge  the  defen- 
ders  of  our  base  and  pusillanimous  rulers  to  produce  a 


55' 

single  authority  from  writers  on  publick  law  prohibiting 
such  a  trade. 

All  writers  on  international  law  admit,  that  nations  at 
iimiti/  with  each  other  may  carry  on  a  contraband  trade, 
even  in  articles  contraband  of  warf  upon  the  sole  condi- 
tion that  they  are  lawful  prize  if  captured  in  such  trafl&ck, 
nor  has  it  even  been  deemed  a  cause  of  national  com- 
plaint— Such  have  been  also  the  repeated  decisions  of 
the  courts  of  common  law  in  Europe  and  America,  for 
as  was  justly  said  by  lord  Mansfield  in  a  question  of  in- 
surance on  such  a  voyage,  "  we  are  not  bound  to  enforce 
the  municipal  and  commercial  laws  of  other  countries,*' 
The  inhabitants  of  St.  Domingo,  even  if  they  could  be 
considered  rebels,  which  they  were  not,  were  simply  in 
the  state  of  a  nation  at  war,  and  it  was  an  unnecessary 
and  base  surrender  q^  a  most  advantageous  commerce 
to  lend  our  aid  in  interdicting  a  trade,  which  France 
had  not  the  power  to  prevent. 

But  if  it  was  derogatory  to  our  councils  thus  to  violate 
the  first  principles  of  our  own  revolution,  thus  to  aban- 
don our  most  unquestionable  rights,  it  became  doubly 
base  when  the  measure  wasjbrced  upon  us  by  a  language 
of  insult  and  insolence  unexampled  in  thie  history  of 
nations^— a  language  of  which  we  defy  the  administra- 
tion to  exhibit  a  parallel  in  the  treatment  of  France  to 
any  of  her  other  tributary  states. 

Mr.  Turreau,  on  the  14th  of  October,  1805,  ad- 
dressed our  secretary  as  follows.  "  The  undersigned 
has  testified  in  his  conversation,  his  Just  discontent  with 
the  commercial  relations  carried  on  between  many 
chizens  of  the  United  States  and  the  rebels.  The 
principles  affected  by  this  species  of  robbery  ar^  so 
generally  understood,  that  tlie  statesman,  if  he  had  not 
lost  every  idea  of  Justice,  humanity,  and  publick  law 
can  no  more  contest  their  wisdom  than  their  justice.'* 
It  is  a  little  singular  that  a  minister  should  have  the  im- 
pudence to  appeal  to  Justice,  humanity,  and  publick  law, 
in  an  attempt  to  reduce  to  slavery  nearly  a  million  of 
men,  who  had  been  declared  free  by  the  voluntary  ac't 


tiix  JIT-    1  I 


!i6 


; 


Pii 


of  the  goveniment  which  such  minister  represented. 
He  proceeds  :  **  The  vessels  destined  to  carry  on  this 
trainck  are  constructed,  armed,  and  loaded  under  the 
eyes  of  the  American  people,  and  the  federal  govern-^ 
ment  itself  which  has  taken  for  its  basis  the  most  scru- 
pulous equity  and  impartial  neutrality,  does  not  forbid 

It.  ,■;■•-:,  !V  *-  '"■  ■••■■ 

On  the  16  oiF  January,  1806,  he  again  writpp  to  Mr. 
Madison,  "formal  orders  of  my  government  oblige 
me  to  insist  on  the  contents  of  my  official  nqte,  relative 
to  the  St,  Domingo  trade — Not  liaving  received  any 
answer  I  bad  room  to  hope  that  the  government  would 
take  measures  to  put  an  end  to  this  trade,  but  your  si-* 
lence,  and  that  of  your  government  to  congress,  impose 
on  me  the  duty  of  renewing  my  complaints  upon  the 
tolerance  given  to  such  an  abuse^  as  shocking  to  the 
law  of  nations,  as  to  our  treaties. — This  system  oftole- 
rmce  can  nc>  longer  remain." 

We  shall  not  make  any  remarks  on  this  language- 
Comment  would  only  enfeeble  it — we  shall  only  ob- 
serve that  among  the  strenuous  op  posers  of  this  Hvf 
was  John  Quincy  Adams — »He  is  supposed  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  national  law^  but  he  had  not  at  that 
time  the  obliquity  of  vision  with  which  he  has  been 
since  unhappily  afflicted. 


-J*. 


3d  PROOF. 


THE  ATTEMPT  OP  THE  ADMINISTRATION    TO    FORCE    BOWN  BEAU- 
MARCHAIS*    CLAIM,    IN    OBEDIENCE   To    MR.    TURREAU*S 

INJUNCTIONS. 

Beaumarchais'  claim  amounts  to  nearly  one  million 
of  dollars  with  its  interest — It  is  perhaps  the  most 
profligate  deinand  which  was  ever  made  upon  an  intel- 
ligent and  independent  people,  and  one  hardly  knows 
which  most  to  admire,  the  perseverance  with  which  it 
is  pursued,  the  contempt  for  the  virtue  and  understand- 
ing of  our  rulers  which  it  implies,  the  audacious  lan- 
guage with  which  it  is  enforced,  or  the  submissive  and 


(Hiftrinci'pt^d  iminner  in  whkk  it  was  encouraged  hf 
the  idmfAistraition. 

Thfft  facts  are  bri«%  these-^Louis  XVI  having 
adopted  a  pwHicv  recoinnincnded  by  the  compte  de  Ver- 
gteniies  aiAl  Mons  Turgot,  so  for  to'  encourage  the  re- 
bellion in  America  as  **  to  exhaust  our  resuwces  but  to 
]ei  mbefinalli}  conquered*' ^  as  \fill  appear  by  the  most 
Mitcrestin^  extraict  in  oM  notes  irom  the  secret  papers 
of  Louis  XVI,  did  not  chuse  openly  to  appear  to  es- 
l^uuse  oirr  eause,  because  as^  it  ap{>eaTs  from  the  same 
papers,-  France  was'  not  in  a  condition  to  entei*  into  thd 
war-^Hie  was  however,  willing  to  enable  us  to  contend 
some  time,  in  order  that  both*  the  force  of  Great  Bri- 
fain  a?nd  of  her  colonicst  might  be  impaired,  as  is  avow^ 
fd  in  the  same' work — It  was  therefore  agreed  betweetf 
the  French  minister  amdOr.  Franklin,  that  a  certain 
mm  of  mone^  should  be  pa*id'  isy  as  as  a*  subsidy  by 
France,  for  w^ich  as  a  cover,  receipts  should  be  ^iveti) 
to  «  secret  agent  of  the  king  of  France,  Mon.  Bean« 
marchais,  who  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  advarie<i 
than  Lord  North. — Q^ne  of  tht^se  receipt  for  one  mil- 
lion of  livres  was  afterwards  presented  to  the  revolu- 
tionary congress  a«  a  debt  due  from  the  United  States; 
thougii  it  was  undnubtediy  {i  free  gift,- for  the  pfomo-' 
tron  of  his  most  christian  majesty's  views. 

Upon  investigation  the  old  congtess  rejected  the"  ' 
claim  as  unjust,  though  for  the  sake  of  preserving  the 
honour  of  the  French  king*  who  had  publickly  dt^ 
clared  in  his  protest  to  Europe,  that  he  had  given 
us  no  assistance,  there  was  a  vote  past  which  seemed 
to  favour  the  pretension  of  Beaumarchais,  though  it 
was  perfectly  understood  by  the  parties  that  it  did  not< 
Thus  the  transaction  rested  till  1807,  more  than  twenty 
five  years,  when  Mr.  Talleyrand,  Htiving  purchased 
this  claim;  as  if  \i  said,  MiT.  Turretiti  declared  td  con- 
gress* ''that  the  Eiilperor  his  masfet' lifHied  up  his  voice 
in  its  favour."  *' 

The  succesf  which  had  attcliid^  Ifis  rAiitaK'ex\witt 
9 


!  I 


n 


on  all  other  occasions,  and  especially  as  i6  the  St.  t)o^ 
mingo  trade,  gave  him  reasonable  grounds  to  believe 
that  this  would  not  be  without  effect,  nor  was  he  de- 
ceived— The  administrationi  and  a  majority  of  ecu. 
gress,  were  perfectly  ready  to  saddle  the  nation  with 
this  most  iniquitous  claim. 

The  attorney  general  impelled  by  the  imperial  voice, 
made  a  flimsy  report  in  support  of  its  legality  and  jus- 
tice^ 

Why  then  has  it  not  been  allowed  ?  Why  has  it 
been  suffered  to  sleep  quietly  for  two  years  on  the 
files  of  the  legislature  ?  No  debate  of  any  consequence 
has  ever  been  had  upon  the  subject — The  attorney  ge^ 
neral's  report  remains  in  favour  of  the  imperial 
claim — Why  then  this  mysteri6 us  delay  ?  Will  not  the 
transaction  bear  the  light  ?  Was  it  intended  to  have 
been  smuggled  through  both  branches,  on  the  autho- 
rity of  the  attorney  general,  and  the  influence  of  the 
imperial  voice  ?  We  can  explain  this  secret.  A  pri- 
vate citizen  of  New-York,  who  had  once  sustained  the 
most  honourable  offices  in  our  country,  so  long  as  of- 
fices were  l^onourablcj  and  who  had  been  intimately 
acquainted  with  this  b&se  transaction,  when  it  was  dis- 
cussed before  the  revolutionary  congress,  displayed 
with  irresistible  reasoning  the  injustice  of  the  claim, 
assailed  with  caustick  satire  the  report  of  the  attorney, 
and  pointed  out  the  evidence  which  would  prove  the 
baseness  of  the  petitioners'  pretensions.  Thus  we  owe 
to  the  patriotism  of  a  private  citizen,  the  saying  of 
nearly  a  million  of  dollars,  which  our  government  had 
agreed  to  grant  to  the  insolent  demand  of  Mr.  Turreau, 

4th.  PROOF. 

LOUISIANA  PufeciIASE. 

There  is  no  subject  of  complaint  against  the  demo- 
cratick  administrations,  which  presents  such  a  variety 
of  disgraceful  features,  which  involves  so  many  and  so 
various  causes  of  censure,  in  its  origin^  principles,  pro 


59 


gresSj  and  effects  as  this  shameful  purchase  of  a  colony 
of  Frenchnkenj  In  its  origin^  it  ^as  corrupt^-r-The 
project  \va8  engendered  in  France  as  \vcU  for  the  inte- 
rest of  France^  as  for  the  basest  and  most  sordid  ?iews 
of  individual  pro6t — In  its  principles^  it  was  hostile  to 
our  constitution  and  unfriendly  to  our  republican  ha- 
bits— In  its  progress  it  was  marked  by  the  most  shame- 
ful profligacy,  and  the  grossest  speculation — and  in  its 
cifects,  it  has  been  a  vast  whirlpool  which  has  not  only 
swallowed  up  the  original  purchase  money  of  eleven 
millions  and  an  half^  but  the  immense  sums  which 
have  been  expended  in  exploring  its  unknown  fron- 
tiers, in  negotiating  with  France  the  adjustment  of 
boundaries  purposely  left  unsettled,  in  fortifications 
and  a  navy  for  its  defence,  as  well  as  the  maintenance 
of  an  army,  who  have  gone  thither  only  to  fertilize  its 
soil  with  their  miserable  remains. 

It  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  general  scope  of 
this  work  to  attempt  even  a  sketch  of  all  the  baseness 
of  this  extraordinary  measure — To  do  it  justice,  it 
vrould  be  necessary  to  devote  to  it  a  volume  of  equal 
size  with  that  which  we  now  offer  to  the  publick, 

Our  present  object  is  to  show  the  mean  submission 
to  the  views  of  France,  which  this  measure  exhibits, 
and  we  shall  only  give  such  hints  on  the  other  points 
as  will  more  clearly  elucidate  this. 

The  origin  of  this  monstrous  purchase,  the  effects 
of  which  will  be  felt  by  our  latest  posterity,  it  is  well 
known,  is  to  be  found  in  the  necessity,  which  thp 
Transmontane  or  Western  States  were  under  to  have 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi — The  twenty 
millions  of  dollars  which  it  has  already  cost  us,  the 
fifty  millions  which  it  will  again  cost'  us  1Q  main-r 
lain  it,  as  well  as  the  thousands  of  lives  which  will  be 
expended  in  a  defence  of  it,  and  which  will  eventual- 
ly be  fruitless,  are  all  to  be  charged  to  the  account  of 
those  backwoodsmen,  who  are  so  hostile  to  the  com- 
mercial interests,  and  so  unwilling  to  expend  a  dollar 


eo 


I  i 


,  1 


I 


5 


Id  defipnoe  or  for  die  protection  of  trade,  and  who  boast, 
that  ttli  the  infa-  mous  measures  they  adopt  to  fetter 
our  coiniperce  are  solely  intended  for  our  benefit. 

Bnt  though  the  navigation  of  the  Missussippi  might 
be  important  to  them,  and  though  it  might  be  our  ciu* 
ty  to  procure  it  for  them,  yet  there  were  two  AS^o^es  ia 
■whieh  it  might  have  been  obtained  at  iess  expense  c( 
money  or  character,  and  which  would  not  have  entail. 
ed  upon  us  such  an  interminable  train  of  evilsr—We 
wanted  only  iht  depet  of  Nev) -Orleans.,  and  the  free 
navigation  of  the  river — Th^^^*^  were  ours  by  solemiji 
treaty  with  Spain  before  this  purchase-r— But  she  qccltid- 
^d  us,  as  the  phrase  of  Mr,  Jefferson  was— she  shut  us 
out  of  that  depot — What  then  was  our  duty  ?  To  tah 
it — But  this  would  have  involved  us  in  a  war,  an4 
our  policy  is  pacifick  ! — We  ans^ver,  you  have  yet  to 
acquire  it  by  your  sword — France  has  not  released  her 
claims  to  it — You  are  only  her  stewards  during  the 
war,  and  she  makes  no  secret  of  her  intention  to  pock- 
et  your  money  and  renew  her  claims  to  the  land. 

But  another  mode  by  which  you  might  have  accom- 
plished  the  object,  was  by  a  purchase  (if  you  woyld  suffer 
the  degradation  of  purchasing  your  own  property,  rather 
than  of  defending  it  by  arms)  of  the  right  of  navigation, 
and  of  the  island  of  New  Orleans  only.  This  would 
not  have  cost  us  more  than  one  or  two  millions  of  del- 
lars  instead  of  fifteen  millions,  and  we  should  have  es- 
caped  .the  other  evils  to  which  such  an  enormous  ac- 
cession of  territory  and  aH)opulatiqn  of  250,000  French- 
men subject  us. 

But  our  vvise  rulers,  having  determined  to  buy  a 
country,  which  they  were  afraid  to  defend,  and  which 
of  course  they  will  be  afraid  to  withhold  when  Booa- 
parte  shalj,  as  he  threatens,  reclaim  it ;  let  us  enquiFC, 
ynder  what  circumstances  and  what  malign  influence  it 
was  obtained  ? 

Bonaparte,  haying  made  a  mock  exchange  with  Spain 
Jjy  the  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  intended  to  renew  the 
^cient,  an^  ^  it  will  appear,  the  favourite  projects  of 


the  monarch  of  France,  oif  gaining  mi  aspen^^ocx  m 
this  continent.  Already  tlte  French  prcsbes  tecnn^ 
with  peculations,  puniphlets,  histories,  topographical 
descriiptions^  maps  ot' i<ouisiana,  and  all  the  i^tive  {eo-> 
thui^tiasm  of  that  people  was  kindled,  ajt  the  idea  uf  % 
new  scene  of  glory  and  conqyest,  of  wealth  and  gnaflr 
^eyr  in  America.  A  military  force  was  aotually  prp- 
yided ;  transports  were  prepared  to  coQv.ey  troops  a)^ 
stores,  to  take  possession  gf  the  key  of  the  W^stcr;i  stat<es» 
At  this  moment  Mr.  Livington's  applications  to  pMVr 
chase  or  to  siettle  the  boMndary  were  rejectpd  wjtjii  idi^r 
dain.  Whtin,  lo !  an  unexpe^cted  event,  an  invent  M«- 
looked  for  by  all  Jlurope,  suddenly  wrested  all  plans  el" 
transmarine  expeditions.  The  departure  of  lord  Whlit- 
worth  from  Paris,  and  the  hourly  expected  rupture  with 
England,  put  a  new  face  upon  tb^  posture  of  affairs  an^ 
on  we  fate  of  t«Qusiana,  then  whoUy  deteiiceless.  <^reat 
Britain  had  perceived  the  a.mbitiQus  views  of  Franoe^ 
j^)e  was  jealous  for  her  cotlonies  on  the  continent  ,as 
well  as  for  the  islands  of  America,  whicj)  would  be  in  a 
precarious  situation,  if  Louisiana  shopld  be  powerfully 
garri^ned  and  protected  by  France.  It  was  foreseen 
that  the  very  ftrst  act  of  war,  oi}  the  part  pf  England^ 
would  be  to  take  possessjion  of  Louisiana,  which  sh(pi 
could  do  with  a  (kejt  and  two  thousand  men*  Sonai; 
parte  was  alarmed  ;  he  sent  to  Mr^  Livingston,  his  pror 
posals  were  considered,  Aod  die  sale  ^\^  the  terms 
agreed  upon.  So  greajt  \vas  d>e  rapidity  with  whicHi 
tjus  important  transac^on  of  the  purchase  of  a  territory 
bigger  than  Great  Pdtain,  and  comprising  ^50,000 
souls,  was  hurried  through,  tliat  Col,  Munroe,  who  e.arr 
ried  out  the  regujar  pf^wers,  was  written  tp  as  soon  as 
he  arrived  Ut  Nantes  or  Havre,  tp  know  if  hi?  hiid  th« 
authority,  and  LivingstcMi  actually  concluded  the  barr 
gain  the  very  .evening  pol.  Munrqg  rpached  jParis,  The 
facts  respecting  this  conven,tip|i  are  known  to  the  writer 
pf  this  article  from  Col.  Mi»nroe's  most  respectable 
secretary,  the  late  amiable  and  resppctable  Col.  Mercer^ 
»f  Virginia  i  and  Col.  Munr^xe,  it  is  believed,  will  hav^t 


68 


u 


no  hesitation  in  admitting  them.  It  is  a  fact,  that  Col. 
Munroe  was  dissatisfied  with  this  haste,  and  with  the 
slovenly  manner  in  which  the  convention  for  the  pur- 
chase,  and  that  concerning  the  debts,  were  drawn  up. 
It  is  a  fact,  that  Col.  Mercer  apologized  for  the  very 
ambiguous  terms  of  these  instruments,  by  saying,  that 
the  French  government  were  eager  to  close  the  bargain, 
lest  Great  Britain  should ^r*^  declare  war  and  dispute 
the  sale.  It  was  then  a  sale  made  by  France^  whatever 
were  our  views,  solely  to  deprive  her  enemy  of  the  ad. 
vantage  which  a  war  would  have  given  him  over  this 
defenceless  country.  It  has  also,  on  our  part,  a  very 
smuggling  and  suspicious  look.  It  may  be  said 
here,  that  if  France  was  about  to  seize  this  country 
and  to  garrison  it  with  a  strong  force,  it  was  policy  to 
purchase  it,  rather  than  to  contest  with  her ;  and  in  pro- 
portion  to  her  eagerness  to  dispose  of  it,  it  is  probable 
was  the  cheapness  of  price  at  which  it  was  obtained. 

Neither  of  these  propositions  is,  however,  true,  for 
as  to  the  first,  we  have  not  avoided  the  danger,  we  have 
only  protracted  it,  and  protracted  it  probably  to  a  peri- 
od  when  we  shall  be  less  able  to  contend  with  her. 
Talleyrand  purposely  inserted  such  a  loose  description 
of  the  boundaries,  that  it  is  impossible  they  should  ever 
be  settled  without  a  war,  or  a  new  gift  of  such  a  num- 
ber of  millions  as  France  may  demand. 

It  is  a  fact,  stated  by  Gen.  Armstrong,  in  presence  of 
the  writer  of  this  article,  that  Talleyrand  laughed  and  ri- 
diculed Mr.  Madison's  expose,  or  display  of  our  claims 
as  to  boundaries ;  that  he  denied  that  any  such  claims  ex- 
isted,  and  intimated  most  distinctly,  that  if  they  should 
be  persisted  in,  France  would  be  obliged  to  defend  the 
rights  of  Spain.  It  is  a  fact,that  Talleyrand  also  declared, 
that  the  question  must  be  discussed  at  Paris,  and  not  at 
Madrid.  It  is  a  fact,  that  six  months  before  the  pro- 
posal of  sending  two  mtllionsy  as  an  entering  wedge,  oi 
as  introductory  to  the  purchase  of  the  Floridas,  was 
made  in  this  country,  it  was  known  in  Paris,  and  pub- 
lickly  spoken  of,  that  such  a  sum  would  be  voted,  and 


63 


6ught  to  be  voted  by  Congress.  This  the  writer  of 
this  article  most  solemnly  declares  He  heard  in  that 
city  at  that  time.  As  to  the  two  millions,  to  purchase 
the  Floridas,  they  were  not  the  sum  intended  to  be  paid. 
Mr.  Munroe  only  had  authority  to  pledge  two  mil- 
lionsy  and  yet  the  treaty  stipulated  fifteen  millions.  It 
was  expected  the  Floridas  would  cost  twelve  millions, 
and  we  should  have  had  patriots  who  would  have  called 
it  cheap. 

We  have  not  then  avoided  a  quarrel^  or  another  tri- 
bute, by  purchasing  Louisiana.  We  have  the  contest 
still  on  our  hands,  and  France  would  nor:  ac^JcpL  our 
money  for  the  Floridas,  Hcpt  she  should  h^je  ^uj  rxcel- 
lent  pretext  "  pour  se  meler  dan?  aos  ;diiiref,,"  '  to  min- 
gle in  our  politicks." 

But  the  Louisiana  convention  his  y:iv en  rise  to  a 
thousand  quarrels  with  France,  -vhich  ill  be  abun- 
dantly better  pretexts  for  a  muvd/roiv;  war,  or  f;.'  tick- 
ing back  Louisiana,  than  sucii  tyranlJi  usually  icize  to 
extend  their  arms. 

The  throne  of  Bonaparte  is  surrou/  /if :d.,  is  b^'ik^j^^ed 
by  citizens  of  Louisiana,  who  thougli  ciriiicns  or  yiaves 
of  the  United  States  (for  one  hardiy  knov.^s  which  they 
are)  are  beseeching  him  to  inteifcre,  and  take  upon 
himself  the  redress  of  their  wrongs. 

Books  are  published  in  Paris  i  ith  the  .•mpeiial  im- 
primatur, and  every  one  knows  thut  no  i^ook  is  now 
published  which  is  not  agreeable  to  the  emperor,  m 
which  the  scandalous  breach  of  the  treaty  by  the  Uni'> 
ed  States  is  alledged,  the  treaty  iy  dec'ared  nuil,  aiid 
the  emperor  is  called  upon  to  vindicate  bis  rights  and 
that  of  his  subJectSf  mark  it !  /f/i*  vu{it'ctsi  in  Louisiana.- 
There  is  a  work  in  the  Ather.ajura,  at  Boston,  in  two 
volumes,  printed  at  Pa?  ».a,  in  which  the  writer  allcdgcs 
the  most  shameful  br  achei  of  treaty  on  our  part ;  tlfiut 
they  were  to  be  treated  as  citizens,  but  are  gov- 
erned i^>j  slaves,  by  militaiy  law.  The  fact  we  know 
to  be  true,  that  such  is  the  tenure  by  which  these  poor 
colonists  hold  their  lives  and  proi)erty.      It  is  well 


ifenowiii  that  Wilkirison  put  thcfih  uAdler  martibl  law,  and 
that  the  decision  of  the  coufts  in  the  case  of  tht  Batw 
tcrre  was  reversed  by  the  baybnet.  The  wiker 
above  alluded  to,  addresses  the  emperor  on  All  the  va- 
rious sources  of  complaint,  and  assures  him  that  the 
hearts  of  every  Frenchman  in  Louisiana  are  firmly  at^ 
tached  to  their  native  or  mother  country,  Fiance,  it 
may  be  remarked  here,  that  the  number  of  French  and 
Spaniards  in  this  province  is  as  great  as  the  number  of 
inhabitants  in  New  Hampshire,  while  the  English 
American  citizens  do  not  exceed  two  thousand  souU 
exclusive  of  our  dying  army. 

It  appears  then,  that  we  have  not  avoided  a  quarrel 
by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  but  have  laid  a  mo»t  solid 
foundation  for  eternal  collisions. 

Nor  was  the  purchase  more  to  be  commended  for  its 
economy.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted,  that  France  would 
have  sold  that  country  (always  reserving,  which  she 
did,  the  seeds  of  future  quarrel  and  claim  to  it)' for  five 
millions.  In  short,  rather  than  to  let  it  fall,  as  it  would 
bave  done,  into  British  hands,  from  whose  grasp  she 
could  never  wrench  it,  she  would  have  ceded  it  to 
us  for  a  release  of  our  claims,  which  she  never  meant 
to  pay.  This,  however,  would  not  have  suited  the 
greedy  harpies,  who  were  determined  to  fetten  on  the 
folly  of  our  rulers.  Talleyrand,  Parker  and  company 
would  not  have  enjoyed,  as  they  did,  one  million  of  our 
dollars ;  nor  would  so  many  fraudulent  and  iniquitous 
scenes  have  disgraced  our  country,  whose  "youth,"  as 
Mr.  Fauchet  says,  "  is  already  decrepid." 

The  history  of  the  con\ention  for  the  payment  of 
debts  due  from  France,  is  a  most  precious  morceau  of 
management  and  intrigue.  The  sums  paid  in  scanda- 
lous bribery,  openly  avowed,  and  shamelessly  boasted 
of;  the  admission  of  nearly  a  million  of  foreign  claims, 
of  American  citizens,  who  never  quitted  an  European 
city,  in  which  they  were  bom,  and  the  rejection  of  bona 
fide  debts  of  natural  born  citizens,  would  form  a  curi- 
ous subject  of  discussion,  to  which  we  ietl  ourselves, 


65 


from  actual  observation,  competent,  but  which  would 
transcend  the  limits  which  we  have  prescribed  to  us. 

We  cannot,  however,  take  leave  of  this  subject  with- 
out noticing  the  bearing  which  this  purchase  of  Loui- 
siana, and  the  attempt  to  purchase  the  Floridas,  has  up- 
on the  innocent  and  unoffending  government  of  Spain. 
We  say  innocent  and  unoffending,  because  we  attribute 
all  the  late  acts  of  injustice,  on  the  part  of  Spain,  prior 
to  her  late  revolution,  to  the  councils  of  France ;  for  so 
long  as  she  continued  independent  we  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  making  treaties  with  her,  and  in  procuring 
compensation  for  losses.  France  did  not  acquire  Louisi- 
ana by  right  of  conquest ;  Spain  was  her  friend  and  her 
ally,  and  she  extorted  this  grant  and  that  of  the  Flori- 
das from  her,  partly  by  threats  and  partly  by  mtrigues 
with  that  traitor  Godoy,  the  prince  of  Peace.  These 
facts  were  well  known  to  our  government.  It  must 
have  been  also  foreseen,  that  if  ever  Spain  should  be 
able  to  assert  her  independence,  she  would  question  this 
extorted  grant.  Jt  was,  therefore,  a  species  of  publick 
robbery,  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  became  an  accessary  after  the  fact,  and  in 
the  attempt  to  purchase  the  Floridas,  an  accessary  be- 
fore the  fact^  But  this  is  not  the  worst  part  of  the  pic- 
ture, when  we  were  about  to  pay  fifteen  millions,  for 
the  purchase  of  a  country  we  had  a ,  right  to  demand,  a 
dght  of  the  title  deeds,  and  it  was  our  duty  to  search 
the  records,  to  see  if  there  were  no  incumbrances. 
Our  ministers  demanded  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of  St.  II- 
defonso,  which  had  never  been  published,  and  by  which 
alone  Fmnce  had  any  pretensions  to  this  country.  This 
was  refused,  and  they  were  only  permitted  to  have  a 
copy  of  the  article  in  which  the  cession  was  made. 
Whether  there  were  any  precedent  or  dependent  con- 
ditions, any  collateral  stipulations  or  explanations,  they 
were  not  permitted  to  know.  But  the  loose  and  am- 
biguous clause  of  cession  was  copied,  whether  fairly  or 
not  they  did  not  know,  but  the  people  of  our  country 
know  that  it  has  already  proved  and  will  prove,  until 
9 


# 


t6 


'  ? 


it  is  regained  by  cither  France  or  Spain,  a  most  prolit'. 
ick  source  of  dispute. 

These  facts  we  have  from  high  authority,  and  we 
can  add  one  other  of  still  more  weight.  The  apparent 
price  paid  by  France  for  this  province,  was  the  erection 
of  Etruria  into  a  kingdom,  and  the  guarantee  of  it  to 
an  infanta  of  Spain.  Within  three  years  Bonaparte 
seized  upon  Etruria,  and  turned  the  infanta  and  queen 
mother  adrift,  without  any  compensation  or  indemnity. 
By  every  principle  of  poblick  law  and  justice  the  prop- 
erty given  in  exchange  reverts  to  the  former  owner,  and 
whenever  Spain  shall  acquire  its  independence,  or  on 
the  division  of  the  French  empire  shall  rise  under  a 
new  monarch,  she  will  reclaim  this  country  from  usj  if 
Bonaparte  shall  not  himself  have  done  it  before. 

Other  objections  of  vast  weight  subsist  against  this 
purchase.  It  was  a  breach  of  the  federal  compact.  If 
a  certain  number  of  states,  of  a  certain  comparative 
strength,  should  agree  to  associate  under  a  federal  head, 
the  motives  to  this  union  might  be  a  conviction  that 
neither  member  would  ever  become  too  powerful  for 
the  rest ;  and  the  calculation  might  be  that  the  seat  of 
empire  could  never  be  carried  farther  from  them  than  a 
given  point.  If  then  this  federal  head,  the  mere  creature 
the  several  independent  states,  could  add,  without  the 
previous  consent  of  the  high  contracting  parties,  a  ter- 
ritory equal  to  all  the  New  England  states,  embracing 
a  population  of  foreigners,  whose  laws,  religion,  habits, 
language  and  prejudices  were  all  hostile  to  the  confed- 
eration, and  to  republican  principles,  the  motives 
and  principles  which  induced  the  contracting  parties  to 
assent  to  the  compact  would  be  defeated.  The  whole 
United  States  may,  by  a  single  other  cession,  be  made 
a  minority.  If  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas  may  be  pur- 
chased on  one  side,  there  is  more  reason  to  buy  Cana- 
da and  Nova  Scotia  on  the  other,  and  when  these  arc 
bought,  we  see  no  obstacle  to  the  purchase  of  Mexico. 
The  right  and  the  principle  would  l)e  the  same  in  all 
these  cases,  and  yet  it  would  hap]:>cn  that  the  Wliolc 


67 


United  States  would  become  a  minority  ;  their  religion 
would  be  proscribed  and  popery  introduced  ;  the  trial 
by  jury  abolished ;  the  civil  law  substituted  to  the  an- 
cient system  of  our  fathers ;  and  finally  our  republican 
constitution  overthrow  i*.  Such  I  say  is  the  tendency 
of  this  measure,  and  yuch  our  reasons  for  doubting  its 
constitutionality.  ■ 

Another  objection  we  have  to  this  purchase,  is  to  the 

Pitronage  and  military  power  with  which  it  invests  the 
resident.  This  country  is  governed  as  a  conquered 
one.  The  example  of  the  executive  magistrate  having 
the  power  to  rule  by  military  force  any  portion  of  the 
country,  is  unfriendly  to  our  security  against  usurpa- 
tion. The  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  and  the 
reversal  of  a  solemn  judicial  decision^  by  order  of  the 
President,  communicated  and  enforced  through  a  mil- 
itary officer,  are  exceedingly  to  be  dreaded,  as  prece- 
dents. ^The  habit  of  tyranny  once  acquired  is  difficult 
to  eradicate  or  restrain.  We  shall  say  no  more  on  this 
point,  except  by  citing  a  sentence  from  the  speech  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  now  as  devoted  to  Mr.  Jeffisrson 
as  any  of  his  humble  dependents.  "  After  giving  (says 
he)  in  Jour  lines  of  a  law,  to  the  President,  all  the  pow- 
ers of  a  king  over  the  whole  colony  of  Louisiana,  he  had 
hoped  the  supporters  of  that  measure  would  have  been 
sparing  of  invectives  against  publick  debt,  armies,  and 
executive  patronage."  See  Mr.  Adams's  speech  in 
senate.  '-a  , 


;i-J 


5th  PROOF. 


(  f  '<M 


SUBMISSION  TO  THE    BERLIN  DECREE. 

The  next  example  which  we  shall  cite  of  the  sub- 
mission of  our  democratick  rulers  to  France,  is  the 
manner  in  which  they  received  and  treated  the  famous 
decree  of  Berlin,  which  has  been  the  source  of  all  our 
late  commercial  embarrassments. 

Our  government,  so  far  from  resist^^g  this  decree, 
apologized  for  it  by  presuming  that  it  was  a  mere  mu- 
nicipal regulation.     This,  if  it  had  been  true,  was  a  con- 


68 

cession  of  our  unquestionable  rights,  secured  by  the 
treaty'of  1800,  which  guaranteed  to  us  theright  to  trade 
freely  between  the  ports  of  the  several  belligerents. 
This  distinction,  however,  was  not  founded  upon  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  decree,  which  was  extended  to 
the  high  seas  as  well  as  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of 
France.  The  pretence  of  calling  it  a  mere  municipal 
regulation  was  grounded  on  the  loose  and  gener- 
al  explanation  of  Monsieur  Decres,  minister  of  ma- 
rine,  who  was  not,  and  who  declared  himself  not  to 
be  the  regular  and  official  organ  to  decide  upon  the 
question.  In  his  note  to  Gen.  Armstrong,  who  asked 
some  explanation  of  the  decree,  he  is  purposely  inex- 
plicit in  his  answer,  but  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
complaint,  on  our  part,  he  added,  "  that  he  had  much 
less  positive  information  than  the  prince  of  Benevento, 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  decree."  This  implied,  that 
his  information  was  imperfect.  In  this  light  our  gov- 
ernment understood  it.  Yet  in  all  domestick  repre- 
sentations  of  this  subject,  the  government  have  chosen 
to  consider  this  as  satisfactory,  and  in  all  the  discus- 
sions with  the  British  cabinet,  the  same  view  of  it  has 
been  presented.  Mr.  Madison  expressly  admits  the 
right  of  retaliation,  for  which  Great  Britain  contends, 
and  reposes  our  justification  on  the  intentiorj  of  the 
French  government  not  to  extend  the  decree  to  us,  and 
on  our  not  having  acquiesced  in  it. 

In  his  letter,  of  March  20th,  1807,  to  Mr.  Erskine, 
he  thus  excuses  our  conduct.  "  The  respect  which 
the  United  States  owe  to  their  neutral  rights,  will  al- 
ways  be  sufficient  pledges,  that  no  culpable  acquiesence 
on  their  part,  will  render  them  accessary  tathe  pro- 
ceedings of  one  belligerent,  through  their  rights  of  neu- 
trality, against  the  commerce  of  its  adversary." 

This  is  an  express  admission  of  the  British  claim  of 
retaliation, and  he  defends  our  government  from  any  such 
acquiesence,  which  he  declares  would  be  culpable^  on 
two  grounds  j  first,  Monsieur  Decres'  explanations 
\\\\\Q.\\  wQYc  no  cxphmations  at  all ;  and  secondly,  on  the 


69 


forbearance  of  France  to  eiiforee'  the'  decree  against  us, 
which  excuse  was  equally  unfounded. 

It  is  an  unpleasant  but  a  necesssary  duty  to  prove, 
that  neither  of  these  excuses  were  sincere ;  that  our 
cabinet  had  no  confidence  in  them,  but  that  they  were 
advanced,  partly  to  repel  the  just  complaints  of  Great 
Britain,  at  our  submisaion  to  the  French  decrees,  and 
partly  to  justify  France  in  the  eyes  of  the  less  reflecting 
pari;  of  the  American  people. 

Mr.  Madison,  so  far  from  believing  that  the  explan- 
ation of  Decres  was  sincere,  or  sufliciently  authentick 
to  be  relied  upon,  wrote  to  Gen.  Armstrong,  in  May, 
1807,  that  our  government  was  anxious  to  have  the  em- 
peror^s  own  explanation,  andjearful  that  this  explana- 
tion would  be  unfavourable,  he  added,  **  should  the 
French  government  not  give  the  favourable  explana* 
tionsy  you  will  remonstrate  against  the  decrees." 

This  proves  that  Decres*  explanations  were  not  con- 
fided in,  and  although  the  French  government,  so  far 
from  confirming  them,  explicitly  disavowed  them,  yet 
no  remonstrance  was  ever  presented  by  Gen.  Arm- 
strong till  November,  1807,  one  year  after  the  date  of 
the  decrees,  and  six  months  after  he  was  ordered  to  re- 
monstrate. 

As  to  the  2d  point,  the  n  on -enforcement  of  the  Ber- 
lin decree — This  though  so  frequently  urged  was 
equally  unfounded  and  insincere., 

Mr.  Madison  on  the  22d  of  May  1807,  six  months 
before  the  British  orders,  wrote  to  Gen.  Armstrong 
that  French  cruizers  "  were  indulging  their  licentious 
cupidity  and  were  enforcing  the  Berlin  decree  in  a 
manner  that  would  constitute  just  claims  for  redress."*^ 

If  they  would  constitute  Jw*^  claims  for  redress  in  fa- 
vour of  our  citizens  in  May  1807,  they  would  of 
course  constitute  just  causes  of  complaint  for  our  ac- 
quiescence on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  in  November, 
of  the  same  year. 

On  the  26th  of  Septfember  of  the  same  year,  Bona- 
parte declared  that  the  decree  "  had  no  exceptions  in 
its  termsj  and  ought  to  have  none  in  its  application." 


M 


''iff.' 

■m 


70  I 

American  property  had  alsa  been  seized  in  neutral 
states  on  the  24Ui  of  November  1806,  in  Hamburg — 
on  the  IQth  of  August  1807,  in  Leghorn — and  on  the 
19th  of  September  1807,  in  the  Papal  territory. 

Such  is  a  brief  picture  of  the  apologizing,  humble 
manner  in  which  the  Berlin  decree  was  received  and 
treated  by  our  cabinet. 

6th  PROOF. 
NEGLECT    TO     NOTICE  THE    MILAN  AND     BAYONNE 

DECREES. 

Though  France  followed  up  her  Berlin  decree  by 
the  more  outrageous  provisions  of  the  decrees  of  Milan 
and  Berlin,  the  first  of  which  subjected  our  innocent 
citizens  to  capture  and  condemnation  for  the  offence  of 
having  been  boarded  by  a  superior  British  force,  and  the 
latter  undertook  to  condemn  every  American  vessel  in 
the  high  seas,  under  the  pretext  of  enforcing  our  em- 
bargo,  yet  neither  of  these  acts  have  ever  received  a 
pointed  censure  by  our  government,  nor  liave  any  re- 
monstrances been  made  against  them  to  the  French 
court. 

At  least  if  they  have  been  made  they  are  carefully 
suppressed^  and  the  only  reply  or  notice  which  the 
French  government  has  taken  of  them,  is  to  be  found 
in  Mr.  Champagny's  late  insolent  note,  in  which  he 
makes  a  parade  of  his  majesty's  morality,  and  his  ten- 
der concern  for  the  liberty  of  the  seas. 

7th  PROOF. 

BASE  LANGUAGE  AHD  CONDUCT  OF  OUR  GOVERNMENT  TO  SPAIN. 

But  the  most  flagrant  proof  of  the  absolute  subservi- 
ency of  our  cabinet,  to  the  iniquitous  views  and  pro- 
jects of  France,  is  to  be  perceived  in  their  language  aijd 
treatment  of  Spain.  If  there  ever  was  a  case  which  tes- 
tified the  sincerity  of  our  rulers,  in  their  professions  of 
attachment  to  the  cause  of  freedom ;  of  gratitude  to- 
wards those  nations  which  had  assisted  us  in  our  revo- 
lutionary struggle,  it  is  to  be  found  in  their  conduct  to- 


71 


^ards  the  patriots  of  Spain,  who  are  making  a  last,  per* 
haps  a  fruitless  effort  for  the  recovery  of  their  former 
liberty. 

Wnat  Spain  had  a  right  to  expec*  of  us — what  we 
ought  to  have  done  for  Spain,  may  be  best  understood 
by  a  reference  to  the  conduct  of  Spain  in  the  beginning 
of  our  revolution. 

Our  chance  of  success  at  the  time  when  Spain  gene- 
rously  stepped  forth  to  assist  us  was  much  smaller  than 
that  of  Spain,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  wsisjirst  called  upon 
to  express  an  opinion  upon  her  affairs. 

In  the  autumn  of  1776  long  before  France  or  any 
other  nation  of  Europe  had  taken  an  interest  in  our  af- 
fairs, Spain  permitted  our  cruisers  to  enter  her  ports, 
and  received  them  with  hospitality  and  all  the  distinct 
tion  due  to  the  flag  of  a  sovereign  and  independent 
state. 

Mr.  Adams  our  Embassador  to  France,  landed  in 
that  country  and  was  received  with  such  marked  atten- 
tion and  respect,  that  in  his  correspondence  he  seems 
to  want  language  to  express  his  gratitude. 

But  Mr.  Jefferson  when  called  upon  by  the  united 
opinion  of  all  honourable  men  to  express  his  sympathy 
for  these  patriots,  coldly  and  barbarously  replied  "  that 
the  contest  *  in  Spain  was  a  mere  struggle  for  power." 
Thus  placing  upon  equal  ground  the  generous  exer- 
tions of  a  free  people  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  a  foreign 
tyrant,  and  the  most  shameful  example  of  perfidy  and 
unprincipled  force  which  the  world  had  ever  witnessed. 

Shall  it  be  said  that  Spain  still  preferred  the  mild 
reign  of  one  of  its  native  inonarchs^  and  that  this  alone 
rendered  it  improper  for  a  repubhck  to  feel  an  interest 
in  her  fate  ?  It  should  be  remembered,  that  Spain  when 
she  assisted  us  was  equally  hostile  to  our  i  epublican  in- 
stitutions, and  yet  did  not  hesitate  to  render  us  her  as- 
sistance. 

We  cannot  overlook  the  refusal  to  receive  the  repre- 
sentive  of  the  Spanish  People,  Don  Onis,  authorised  as 
it  is  said  to  settle  the  disputed  boundaries  of  Louisiana, 


\M 


W'Wm  • 


72 


and  to  grant  eight  millions  of  dollars  to  our  citizens  lor 
losses  sustained  in  consequence  of  the  iniiiKiKc  of 
France  over  the  Spanish  court. 

This  was  the  more  injudicious  as  it  is  almost  cer iuiii 
that  the  Spanish  colonies  in  South  America  w  ill  retain 
their  independence,  and  their  friendship  will  ot  course, 
be  vastly  more  interesting  to  us,  than  that  of  the  power- 
ful  Emperor  of  France. 

The  disgraceful  subserviency  of  our  administniiion 
was  still  more  obvious  in  the  late  attempt  to  n-lt  a 
provision  for  a  minister  to  the  court  of  the  usurper 
Joseph  Bonaparte  at  Madrid — This  measure  was  too 
abominable  even  for  the  obedient  majority  of  the  hoii?e 
of  representatives,  and  it  was  rejected  by  them  with  dis- 
dain. 

8th  PROOF. 

DISREGARD  OF    THE   INSOLENT    LANGUAGE     OF   BC 

NAPARTE   AND   HIS    MINISTERS   TOWARDS   US. 

Though  our  government  have  been  so  ready  to  take 
fire  at  the  most  remote  and  obscure  and  invisible  impu- 
tation from  a  British  minister,  and  instantly  to  mliict 
one  of  the  highest  punishments  which  the  law  ol  na- 
tions will  permit,  yet  no  publick  notice,  no  mention 
has  ever  been  made  to  congress  of  the  repeated  and 
continued  insults  of  the  emperor  and  of  his  mhiisten 
— Not  one  ktter  has  ever  appeared  from  a  French  mi- 
nister which  has  not  been  written  in  a  purposed  style 
of  hauteur  and  insult — Nor  can  it  be  pretended  that 
our  government  were  so  blind  as  not  to  perceive  them 
— When  CJiampagny  in  1807,  told  Mr.  Armstrong 
"  that  there  should  be  no  neutrals,  and  that  the  United 
States  were  actually  at  war  with  Great  Britain,"  Mr. 
Madison  wrcte  privately  to  Armstrong  about  six  months 
after  the  insult,  "  that  this  letter  had  the  air  of  an  as- 
sumed authority,  but  that  he  must  so  present  the  in- 
sulting expressions  to  the  court  of  France,  that  while 
he  should  make  them  sensible  of  the  offensive  tone  em- 


73 

ployed,  he  should  leave  the  way  open  for  friendly  ek- 
planations  if  they  should  be  disposed  to  make  them.** 
This  then  proves  that  our  government  considered  it 
an  insult yatid  yet  it  never  was  noticec  as  such  by  the  Pres- 
ident, or  by  amy  orgdnf  of  the  administration  in  a  publick 
manner.  Nor  is  this  tiill.  Armstrong  has  mbver  remon- 
strated from  that  day  to  the  present,  or  if  he  did,  the  an- 
swer was  so  q^on/tv^,that  the  government  keep  back  both 
the  complaint  and  reply.  We  have  however  j.  reply 
in  general  terms  to  all  our  complaints,  in  that  last  model 
of  unexampled  aifront,  and  deliberate  insult,  written  by 
count  Champagny,  and  communicated  to  Congress  by 
Mr.  Madison,  without  one  remark  injurious  to  France. 
This  letter  contains  a  general  rejection  of  all  oUr  pray- 
ers, entreaties,  and  complaints,  assures  us  that  his  ma- 
jesty is  unalterably  resolved  to  persevere  in  all  his  de- 
crees and  seizures,  and  that  though  he  approves  what 
we  have  already  done  by  his  orders,  yet  that  he  expects 
we  should  go  farther  and  join  him  against  Great  Britain. 
This  is  the  substance  of  that  letter,  and  yet  Mr.  Madi- 
son passes  it  over  without  comment*  It  is  probable 
that  the 'whole  style  of  the  French  government's  cor- 
respondence is  of  the  same  nature,  because  oUr  trusty 
and  well  beloved  cousins  of  the  emperor  in  our  cabinet, 
have  taken  care  to  give  us  only  "  here  a  little  and  there 
9,  little,"  detaching  members  of  the  same  sentence,  the 
relative  from  its  antecedent,  and  the  nominative  case 
from  the  verb,  so  as  most  studiously  to  conceal,  not  on- 
ly insults,  but  the  sense  of  every  passage.  This  is 
what,  in  the  language  of  the  administration,  is  called  a 
strict  and  impartial  neutrality. 

PROOF  9- 

NOMINATION  OV  MR.  AOA^S  TO  RUSSIA; 

The  appointment  of  a  minister  to  a  court  with  whom 
we  had  never  befbre  had  any  intercourse  j  with  whom 
wc  had  no  political  ties  ;  no  questions  to  settle  or  ad- 
just ;  by  a.  party  too  which  had  professed  its  hostility 
to  air  foreign  connections;  and  immediately  after  the. 
10 


74 


n 


senate  liad  unanimously  negpatived  one  nomination,  and 
had  declared,  that  in  the  opmion  of  that  body,  no  such 
mission,  was  necessarv,  was  calculated  to  awaken  the 
curiosity  and  excite  the  fears  of  the  people.  But  the 
appointment  of  such  a  minister,  in  the  midst  of  a  de- 
structive war,  to  the  court  of  one  of  the  belligerents ; 
to  the  ally  of  France  ;  to  a  cabinet  which  was  co-oper- 
ating  in  the  commercial  warfare  against  Britain,  was  still 
more  alarming  inasmuch  as  it  could  not  fail  to  be  view- 
ed with  jealousy  by  Great  Britain,  .o  render  her  less 
disposed  to  accommodate  her  differences  with  us,  and 
more  suspicious,  (if  it  was  possible  to  increase  her  just 
suspicions  on  that  head)  of  our  secret  devotion  to 
France.* 

It  had  a  tnost  "  wonderful  coincidence  like  our  em- 
bargo, with  the  general  measures  which  France  was  pur- 
suin^." 

When  to  the  natural  circumstances  of  suspicion^ 
which  the  mission  itself  presented,  we  add  the  declara- 
tion of  Monsieur  Frangois  de  Neuf  Chateau,  in  a  late 
pamphlet,  printed  by  him  in  Paris,  and  that  of  the  sen- 
ate of  France,  in  their  reply  to  the  emperor,  in  which 
they  consider  the  union  of  America  with  the  continen- 
tal powers  in  a  cammon  resistance,  in  other  words,  a 
war,  as  certain ;  when  we  add  to  these,  the  declarations 
of  Mr.  Burwell  and  Mr.  Smilie,  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress,  approving  the  idea  of  a  northern  confederacy,  we 
confess  we  can  see  no  room  to  doubt,  that  such  is  the 
object,  and  sole  object  of  the  unaccountable  embassy 
to  Russia,  previously  agreed  upon  and  concerted  be- 
tween the  emperor  and  Mr.  Jefferson.  It  may  fail  of 
success.  Russia  is  only  playing  a  coerced  part.  She 
may  refuse ;  and  we  shall  then  be  told  that  the  project 

did  not  exist. 

PROOF  10. 

SUPPRESSION  OF  OUR  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRANCE. 

"  Republicks  should  have  no  secrets,"  was  the  demo- 
ci^tick  doctrine  before  they  got  into  pliice,  and  now  the 

•  See  note. 


75 

reverse  of  that  rule  has  grown  into  fashion,  and  nothing 
is  to  be  divulged^  except  whenyou  can  get  a  chance  to 
inflame  the  passions  against  Great  Britain.  In  every 
stage  of  our  negociations  with  France,  after  the  rupture 
of  tliem  as  well  as  pending  the  discussions,  all  satisfac 
tory  information  is  kept  back.  The  mutilated  extracts  * 
which  are  scantily  exhibited,  abundaptly  prove  that  the 
worst  part  is  constantly  withheld.  Why  suppress  the 
rest  ?  It  must  be ;  because  it  is  dishonourable  to  France 
or  dishonourable  to  our  cabinet.  As  to  seeretSy  we 
ought  no  longer  to  have  any  with  a  nation  which  avows 
its  determination  to  persevere  in  its  hostility ;  let  us  then 
have  the  worst  of  its  conduct ;  let  us  see  it  in  all  its 
deformity.     We  see  enough  to  be  sure,  and  too  niuch 

•  to  satisfy  us  that  we  are  despised,  butt'cttcd,  insulted, 
and  plundered.  But  the  pertinacity  of  our  administra- 
tion, in  withholding  information,  can  only  be  equalled 
by  their  effrontery  in  mocking  the  people  with  tlicir 
pretended  impartiality.  When  Mr.  Jefferson  com- 
municated to  Congress  the  insolent  letters  from  France 
last  year,  he  did  it  on  the  express  condition,  that  they 
were  to  read  them,  and  "return  them  to  him.'*  He 
would  not  even  trust  the  legislature  of  the  union,  with 
mutilated  copies  of  the  French  correspondence. 

Some  patriot,  however,  disclosed  them  to  the  people, 
and  we  discovered  the  base  and  ignominious  course  of 
that  correspondence ;  a  course,  at  which,  even  Arm-, 
strong  blushed  for  his  country  and  himself. 

At  the  present  session,  the  conduct,  as  to  communi- 
cations from  France,  exceeds  in  baseness  that  of  Mr. 
Jefferson.  The  •whole  of  the  orders,  or  instructions  to 
Armstrong,  is  suppressed.     All  the  negociation  with 

.  Hauterive,  the  offers  made  and  rejected  are  also  sup- 
pressed, and  nothing  is  given  to  us  but  the  publick  let^ 
/erof  Champagny,  which  we  should  never  nave  had,  if 
Bonaparte  had  not  first  caused  it  to  be  published  in  Am- 
steidam.  If  it  had  not  appeared  in  the  American  prints 
it  never  would  have  been  given  to  Congress,  and  wc 
should  have  remained  ignorant  that  Bonaparte  totally 


,)f 


76 


rejected  our  Jina/  offers*  What  they  were  we  know 
not.  The  whole  object  of  Mr.  Madison,  in  publishinjr 
Chapipagny's  letter,  was  to  make  such  a  favourable 
translation  of  it  as  would  lessen  its  atrocity.  But  they 
dare  not  trust  the  publick  with  the  original. 

Repeated  attempts  have  been  made  by  Col.  Picker, 
ing,  in  the  senate,  and  Mr.  Mosely,  in  the  house  of  rep. 
resentatives,  to  procure  some  light  into  our  affairs  with 
France,  but  it  is  most  sedulously  withheld. 

PROOF  11. 

THE   APFECfSD  RESBNTMEKT    AGAINST    FRANCE. 

For  many  years  after  France  had  commenced  her 
system  of  injustice  and  insult  against  us,  our  adminis. 
tration  and  their  friends  did  not  even  put  on  the  exteri- 
or  appearance  of  resentment,  which  would  have  cost 
them  so  little.  The  capture  of  our  ships  on  various 
pretexts — the  law  of  France  passed  many  years  before 
the  Berlin  decree,  that  no  vessel  should  be  admitted  to 
an  entry  which  had  touched  in  Great  Britain  ;  finally, 
that  such  vessel  and  cargo  should  be  confiscated,  the 
repeated  instances  of  enforcing  these  decrees  did  not 
call  forth  from  our  governnient  the  smallest  complaint. 
They  were  considered  as  lawful  exercises  qf  pcrwer^ 
and  not  even  to  be  countervailed  by  correspondmg  re- 
strictions. 

The  Berlin  decree  with  its  explanation  not  believed  in 
hy  any  one^  and  least  of  all  by  our  administration,  was 
received  with  equal  indifference  ;  but  Bonaparte's  de- 
claration that  he  would  have  no  neutrals^  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  and  the 
seizure,  as  Gen.  Armstrong  says,  of  17  millions  of  dol- 
lars, at  last  compelled  our  reluctant  and  lethargick 
ministers  to  put  on  a  semblance  of  irritation. 

From  that  day  to  this,  the  government  and  its  parti- 
zans  have  adopted  a  course  which,  I  dare  say,  they 
believe  imposes  upon  the  people  for  a  species  qf  impar- 
tiality. They  affect  to  talk  of  France  and  Great  Bri- 
tain as  having  both  been  guilty  of  aggressions.    Late 


77      . 

and  unexpected  as  even  this  language  is,  it  is  too  frail 
and  too  transparent  to  deceive  any  one- 

They  are  willing  to  preserve  the  a^s^pearancc  of  im- 
partiality,  to  bestow  one  or  two  faint  ( ciisurea  on  France, 
for  which  they  take  care  to  atone  to  his  Majesty  the 
emperor,  by  many  solid  concessions  and  serious  humili- 
ations, and  then  they  flv  with  a  carnivorous  and  greedy 
appetite  to  their  natural  prey,  Great  Britain.  Thus  we 
recollect  Mr.  G.  W.  Campbell's  report  to  Congress, 
and  his  resolutions  not  to  submit  to  either  belligerent — 
While  ten  lines  were  otlupied  about  French  insults 
and  injuries,  twelve  pages  were  employed  in  gross 
abuse  of  Great  Britain.  This  subject  leads  us  to  no- 
tice the 

12th  PROOF. 

UR.  MADI30N*S    LATE    MESSAGE   TO    CONGRESS. 

What  was  our  situation  with  France  at  the  time 
when  this  message  was  written  ?  What  were  the  out- 
rages which  ought  to  have  pressed  upon  the  mind  of 
the  President,  if  he  hacl  not  been  callous  to  all  the  in- 
juries of  France  ?  Twenty  millions  of  American  pro- 
perty either  sequestered  or  condemned — Several  hun- 
dred American  citizens  in  close  confinement  as  prison- 
ers of  war,  many  of  whom  were  taken  on  the  high  seas, 
and  avowed  by  France  to  be  Americans — Theouniing 
of  our  ships  without  the  pretext  of  any  decree,  neither 
apologized  for,  explained,  or  compensated,  nor  even 
any  answer  to  our  minister's  memorial  on  this  subject, 
dated  July  10th,  1  SOS—The  insolent  letter  of  Cham- 
pagny  of  December,  1807,  in  which  he  declares  war 
for  usy  and  which  Mr.  Armstrong  was  directed  to  pre- 
sent to  the  French  cabinet  for  explanation  and  aton^'- 
mentf  wholly  unnoticed  and  unatoned — The  Berlin, 
Milan,  and  Bayonne  decrees  in  full  force,  all  of  which 
have  been  admitted  to  be  the  grossest  violations  of  our 
rights. 

With  this  accumulation  of  insult  and  injury  to  which 
had  been  recently   superadded,  the  positive    declara- 


% 


r.'fii 


\' 


78 


Ji 


tion  of  the  emperor,  that  he  never  w§uld  alter  his  sys- 
tem until  we  should  take  an  active  part  against  Eng. 
land,  Mr.  Madison.'  who  had  been  just  abusing  Great 
Britain  in  "  words  that  burn"  coolly  and  mildly  ob- 
serves that  ^*  Witli  France  the  other  belligerent  whose 
trespasses  on  our  cr  timercial.  rights  have  long  been 
the  subject  of  our  juit  remonstrances,  the  posture  of 
our  relations  does  not  correspond  with  the  paias  taken 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  arid  effect  a  favourable 
change."     A  trespass  is  i lie  lowest  possible^ degree  of 
injury  of  which  the  law  takes  notice — Yet  Mr.  Madi- 
son describes  all  these  injuries  and  outrages  of  France, 
as   simple     trespasses — Instead  too     of  imputing  to 
France  the  failure  of  the  negotiation,  instead  of  saying 
that  she  had  haughtily  and  imperiously  rejected  all  our 
offers  and  advances,  he  simply  declares  "  that  the  pos- 
ture of  our  affairs  does  not  correspond"  with  the  mean- 
ness of  our  advances-T-In  communicating  the  corres. 
pondence  with  France,  he  shews  the  same  partiality ; 
while  he  sends  to  congress  eighty  eight  pages  of  our 
correspondence  with  England,  the  whole  negotiation 
with  France,  is  comprised  in  seven — and  these  seven 
are  avowed  to  contain  only  the  "  result  of  the  corres- 
pondence"— The  nature  of  our  offers — the  manner  in 
which  they  were  enforced — the  temper  and  argument 
of  the  replies  of  the  French  officers,  (if  any  were  given) 
all  of  which  are  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  o 
the  French  policy  are  studiously  kept  within  the  exe- 
cutive breast,  and  congress  are  called  upon,  the  people 
are  entreated  to  support  and  uphold  an  administration 
which  in  its  turn  places  so  little  confidence  in  the  people 
—•Yes !  fellow  citizens  we  are  called  upon,  we  are  re- 
quired by  the  force  of  Anathemas,  and  denunciations 
to  attest  and  subscribe  to  the  infallibility  of  Mr.  Madi- 
son, while  he  has  not  sufficient  respect  for  our  under- 
standing, our  patriotism,  and  our  RIGHTS  to  entrust  us 
with  even  a  meagre  portion  of  information  in  his  pos- 
session to  enable  us  to  form  an  opinion  of  his  measures. 


^tt.  kofikRt  i 


1"! 


70  .   ' 

LAST  PROOF 

lltt.  ft08&Rt  smith's    late   REPORT    ON  THE    COKDtfCT  OF  TBti 
SEVERAL   BELLIGERENTS. 

It  was  known  to  all  the  mercantile  world  that  dur-  < 
ing  the  last  year,  our  commerce  had  not  been  interrupt- 
ed  except  in  a  few  instance's,  necessarily  incident  to  a 
state  of  war,  by  the  navy  of  Great  Britain,  which  co- 
vers every  sea — On  the  contrary  that  Great  Britain  had 
afforded  great  protection  to  our  trade  by  convoys  and 
captures. 

It  was  equally  well  known  that  Denmark,  so  recently 
a  neutral,  and  so  often  smarting  under  the  operation  of 
belligerent  principles,  and  which  had  professed  itself  the 
friend  of  neutral  commerce,  had  made  the  most  profli- 
gate sweep  upon  American  commerce.  France  too  with 
her  usual  assiduity  in  the  cause  of  rapine  had  been  suc- 
cessfully busy  Jn  plundering,  capturing  or  destroying 
all  the  American  property  which  the  feeble  state  of  her 
marine  and  the  dread  of  her  enemy  would  permit. 

In  this  well  known  state  of  things,  particulars  of 
which  will  be  given  in  the  notes,  Mr.  Robert  Smith 
was  called  upon  to  state  what  facts  had  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  department  of  State  relative  to  the 
aggressions  of  the  belligerents.* 

The  most  extraordinary  document  that  ever  was  laid 
before  any  publ'ck  body  is  the  report  of  this  Mr.  Smith. 

It  was  convenient  for  France  that  he  should  presume 
that  congress  only  wanted  authentick  evidence  of  such 
condemnations  as  had  been  made  by  the  highest  tribunal. 
— This  was  the  same  distinction  set  up  by  out  impartial 
cabiiiCt  as  to  the  Berlin  decree,  for  although  the  Hori- 
zon had  been  condemned  m.  July  by  the  lower  court,  Ma- 
dison considered  that  there  was  no  cause  of  complaint 
till  the  decision  had  been  confirmed  by  the  upper  tribu- 
nals in  September — This  is  directly  opposed  to  all  our 
conduct  as  to  Great  Britain,  where  we  have  always 
complained  to  the  government,  of  the  acts  of  tlieir  vice 
admiralty  courts,  when  there  was  an  appeal  prosecuted 
— Mr.  Smith  accordingly  gives  us  only  the  casps  of 

*  See  notes. 


80 


actual  condemnation  by  the  upper  courts  in  France, 
which  are  shameful  and  numerous  enough  to  be  sure 
as  we  sh|fi  shew  in  our  notes* — He  then  states  gene- 
rally £he Jfeformation  received  from  Denmark,  but  takes 
care  to  apologize  for  both,  first,  by  saying  that  these 
cax^tures  were  owing  to  the  frauds  committed  by  Ame- 
ricans in  taking  British  licenses,  &c. — 2d,  That  it  does 
not  appear  that  these  acts  were  authorised  by  their  res- 
pective governments. 

It  is  somewhat  curious  that  the  same  man,  an  oiEcer 
of  our  own,  who  rejects  any  evidence  of  the  injuries 
committed  by  France  and  Denmark,  unless  accompa- 
nied by  proof  of  condemnation  by  the  highest  courts^ 
should  accept  the  mere  hearsay  criminations  of  our 
own  countrymeny  contained  in  an  exparte  memorial  of  a 
few  prejudiced  shipmasters,  and  should  announce  to 
the  world  as  also  Mr.  Madison  did  in  his  speech  the 
existence  of  American  frauds  so  extensive  and  general 
as  to  give  full  justification  to  courts  already  predis- 
posed against  us  for  indiscriminate  seizure  and  con- 
demnation. 

It  is  also  extraordinary  that  men  who  have  kept  this 
nation  in  a  flame  for  several  years,  owing  to  the  un- 
authorized acts  of  distant  agents  of  Great  Britain, 
should  apologize  for  the  illegal  acts  of  French  and 
Danish  officers  committed  under  the  eye  of  their  mas- 
ters, and  often  in  the  very  ports^  as  being  possibly  done 
without  authority. 

It  is  a  little  singular,  that  Mr.  Smith  should  have 
neglected  to  notice  the  burning  of  several  of  our  mer- 
chant ships  several  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  Con- 
gress, and  of  which  facts,  affidavits  were  sent  to  the 
Secretary  of  State.  We  can  perceive  no  other  evidence 
which  can  be  offered,  in  a  case  of  burnings  for  there  Is 
no  decree  but  the  mind  of  the  tyrant,  and  no  executive 
officer  but  Fire,  which  effectually  puts  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  party  to  produce  any  evidence  but  the 
affidavit  of  the  crew 

•  See  notes. 


81 


This  act  being  a  repetition  of  the  outrages,  of  which 
Armstrong,modestly  enquired,  in  July  1808,  and  which 
Mr.  Madison  directed  him  to  "  present  to  the  French 
government  in  a  way  to  awaken  them  to  the  sense  of 
the  injury,"  and  which  he  pronounced  to  be  the  "  most 
distressing  mode  by  which  belligerents  exercise  Jbrce 
contrary  right,  and  it  appearing,  that  the  French  gov- 
ernment not  only  continued  to  sleep  \v  on  these  com- 
plaints, but  had  gone  so  far  as  to  repeat  them ;  the 
total  silence  of  Mr.  Smith  upon  this  topick  is  wholly 
unaccountable,  unless  upon  the  principle  of  a  fixed  de- 
sire to  overlook  and  palliate  all  the  injuries  of  France. 

It  is  a  little  odd,  that  while  Mr.  Smith  could  not 
feel  justified  in  reporting  on  any  French  aggressions 
tilt  final  condemnation,  he  should  have  departed  from 
that  rule  as  to  Great  Britain,  and  as  he  could  not  find 
u  single  case  of  new  condemnation  on  her  part,  he  talks 
about  the  various  "principles  under  which  her  cruis- 
ers continue  to  capture  our  ships.'*  He  does  not  state 
that  he  knows  a  single  fact  of  the  kind. 

Let  one  rule  or  the  other  be  adopted — If  we  take 
condemnations  in  the  upper  courts  as  the  test,  we  shall 
find  that  Great  Britain  with  her  thousand  ships  has  not 
condemned  finally  one  tenth  part  of  the  number  which 
France  and  Denmark  have  each  of  them  done — If  you 
take  captures  as  the  rule,  you  will  find  that  Great  Bri- 
tain has  vecaptured  and  saved  for  us  more  than  she  has 
taken,  while  France  and  Denmark  have  captured  on 
the  high  seas,  distinct  from  seizures,  more  than  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars  since  the  embargo  wus  removed.  Still, 
liowever,  notwithstanding  their  injustice,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  heaven,  and  the  force  of  Great  Britain,  in  keep- 
ing in  the  cruisers  of  her  enemies,  and  restraining  their 
rapine,  our  trade  has  been  prosperous  almost  beyond 
c'xample. 


11 


V 


.4- 


./li    hhiu^^f  ::.  if^j:,'   ;k:I  -u.  i 


S^m\ 


'';,,  '-H':; 


.■"!■'  ' 


|p 


n 


IiUmI'I: 


fV 


'j    ^ifJ!    ;^r'. 


•  SAi  ^ 


S2 


REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  ABOVE  TWO  GENERAL  HEADS 

It  may  occur  to  the  charitable  part  of  the  communi- 
ty, whose  very  virtues  sometimes  lead  them  into  error, 
that  the  picture  which  we  have  drawn  of  the  h'^'^+ility 
of  our  administration  to  Great  Britain,  and  of  itb  aevo- 
tion  to  France,  is  too  highly  coloured — They  may  say 
that  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  any  men  placed  in  such 
responsible  situations,  could  be  so  warped  by  passion 
as  to  lose  sight  entirely  of  the  best  interests  and  un- 
questionable rights  of  their  country — They  may  doubt 
too  the  policy  of  exhibiting  their  conduct  towarr's  for- 
eign nations  m  so  strong  a  point  of  view,  on  account  of 
the  possible  eifects  and  bearings  of  such  representations 
on  the  policy  of  other  nations. 

These  two  objections  require  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion and  reply — Our  object  is  to  confirm  the  wiivering 
— to  prop  the  irresolute  and  to  encourage  the  strong- 
It  would  be  a  manifest  departure  from  our  design,  if 
we  should  so  conduct  the  execution  of  it  as  to  give- 
unnecessary  off*^nce  or  dissatisfaction  to  the  mildest  of 
our  political  friends. 

1st.  Is  the  picture  we  have  given  too  strong  ?  Is  it 
unjust  towards  our  rulers  ?  Peruse  the  facts  we  have 
stated  with  care — Put  your  finger  on  any  one  which  is 
even  misrepresented  or  discoloured. 

If  you  shall  fail  in  being  able  to  do  this,  ask  your- 
selves whether  such  a  mass  of  facts,  concurring  all  te 
establish  these  two  great  propositions ^  CAN  be  the  re- 
sult of  accident — Treat  this  question  as  you  do  all  oth- 
ors — Sec  if  the  evidence  be  in  the  first  place  credible, 
and  then  what  is  the  irresistible  verdict  or  issue  which 
you  are  obliged  to  find. 

But  again,  in  requiring  you  to  believe  that  our  rulers 
have  these  violent  antipathies  and  partialities,  we  do  not 
ask  you  to  credit  any  new  and  incredible  species  of  hu 
man  depravity  and  corruption. 

Far  be  such  a  thought  from  our  breasts — We  ask 
)  ou  to  believe  onl}-  that  they  are  ?ncn  ;  fraiJ^  fallxhk 


censure,  am 


■  m  : 

gien — men  neither  worse  or  better  than  the  generality 
of  mankind  ;  but  men  whose  passions  when  indulged 
will  occasionally  get  the  better  of  their  duty— men, 
whose  ruling  passion  (which  is  too  apt  to  be  the  master 
of  us  all)  happens  to  be  the  lust  of  power — the  desire  of 
place — and  who  connect,  Justly  connect  the  mainten- 
ance and  support  of  their  incorrect  principles  with  the 
existence  of  their  party. 

We  suppose  them  to  be  just  such  men  as  were  the 
Jews,  who,  in  spite  of  miracles,  and  the  most  convinc- 
ing doctrines,  adhered  to  the  errors  of  their  religion, 
and  persecuted  because  they  were  determined  not  to 
believe. 

We  consider  them  like  the  Jacobites,  the  tories  of 
Great  Britain  who  opposed  the  revolution,  and  who 
against  all  fact  and  evidence,  continued,  and  some  of 
tliem  still  continue  to  believe  the  existence  of  the  Pre- 
tender, who  was  never  born,  except  in  the  imagination 
of  the  adherents  of  the  house  of  Stewart. 

Time  and  passion  have  unhappily  connected  the 
cause  of  France  with  that  of  our  democratick  party, 
and  as  France  is  necessarily  the  antipode  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, ever)  honest  democrat  must  execrate  the  British 
governme:?!.  We  forbear  to  pursue  the  gradual  growth 
of  this  sen\  iment  till  it  has  ripened  into  poisonov^.s  fruit. 
It  deserves  a  distinct  and  separate  develppement.  A 
fragment  of  this  nature  may  be  found  in  this  work,  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  shew  that  the  politicks  of  Great 
Britain  and  France  are  interwoven,  deeply  interwoven 
with  the  politicks  of  this  country.  The  man  must  be 
blind  who  does  not  perceive  it,  and  a  coward  who  is 
unwilling  to  acknowledge  it. 

A  French  triumph  is  celebrated  at  Washington  with 
as  much  heartfelt  satisfaction,  if  not  as  miich  parade, 
as  in  Paris,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  so  elec- 
trifyjng  are  the  effects' of  such  extraneous  accidents, 
that  the  success  of  an  election  has  been  decided  by  the 
arms  of  a  French  legion.  It  is  in  vam  to  lament  or 
censure,  and  still  more  foolish  to  deny  the  fact.     We 


'^m 


S4, 


m 


1    I 


arc  aware,  that  the  charge  is  retorted,  and  that  the  fed- 
eralists are  accused  of  being  under  British  influence  ; 
but  Britain  cannot  be  accused  of  being  a  very  success. 
*  ful  intriguer.  There  are  one  hundred  federalists  who 
are  ready  to  exclaim  against  many  of  her  just  and 
proper  acts,  to  one  democrat  who  expresses  the  smalU 
est  dissatisfaction  at  the  conduct  of  France.  The 
utmost  of  which  the  federalists  can  boast,  with  all  their 
acknowledged  superiority  of  talents,  is,  that  they  have 
preserved  the  country  hitherto  from  a  British  war. 
Here  is  the  limit  of  their  efforts. — But  no  exertions 
are  or  can  have  been  necessary  to  restrain  the 
FURY  of  our  citizens  against  France,  though  pos- 
terity (if  we  should  ever  have  any,  who  are  not  mon- 
grels of  French  soldiers  and  American  women)  will 
blush  at  the  turpitude  which  could  submit  without  in- 
dignation  to  such  continual  and  repeated  injuries  and 
insults  from  France. 

Great  Britain  has  no  secret  system  of  foreign  espi- 
onage— She  relies  solely  on  the  power  of  her  arms  and 
the  justice  of  her  measures — She  does  not  sufficiently 
consult  the  feelings  of  other  nations,  and  holds  too 
cheap  those  unmeaning  professions  which  have  done  as 
much  for  France  as  her  arms. 

But  France  has,  for  more  than  a  century,  pursued 
a  diftbrent  course.  Her  publick  ministers  in  foreign 
countries  are  mere  pageants.  From  the  days  of  Louis 
XIV,  she  has  kept  up  a  set  of  private  agents  at  ever}' 
court,  with  .whom  all  the  I'eal  business  is  transacted. 
Turreau,  therefore,  may  be,  and  probably  is  a  mere 
man  of  show,  the  efficient  minister  is  not  known  oi 
suspected.  The  world  owes  the  knowledge  of  this  se- 
cret to  the  French  revolutior  At  that  time,  foolishly 
believing  tliat  their  republick  was  to  be  eternal,  and 
holding  to  the  doctrine  that  the  republick  should  have 
no  secrets,  the  convention  seized  on  the  papers  of  Louis 
XVI,  and  published  the  whole  history  of  the  secret  in- 
trifi^uc,  which  thev  had  caiTied  on  with  all  the  courts 
of  the  world.     This  book  is  entitled,  "  Politique  dc 


i  I 


85 


tous  les  Cabinets,"  from  which  wc  shall  make  Some  ex» 
tracts  in  our  notes,  but  we  shall  merely  shew  now,  that 
America  was  not  deemed  beneath  their  notice  in  1776, 
and  that  she  thought  it  proper  tb  have  private  agents 
here  at  that  time.  We  think  we  can  trace  the  influence 
of  these  agents,  regularly  kept  up,  from  that  day  to  the 
present. 

In  this  valuable  book,  we  find  that  one  of  the  means 
proposed  to  Louis  XVI,  to  gain  an  ascendancy  in  this 
country  was  to  endeavour  *'to  ascertain  every  thing 
which  passed  in  the  English  colonies  in  America,  with- 
out having  there  any  direct  or  characterised  agent." 

So  much  for  the  first  objection,  which  we  have  anti- 
cipated as  possible. 

For  the  second,  the  effect  which  such  writings  will 
have  upon  foreign  nations,  we  have  the  following  re- 
plies, w.hicn  we  hope  one  or  all  of  them  will  satisfy  our 
readers  of  tender  conscience. 

1st.  From  personal  knowledge,  we  can  assert  that 
our  political  writings  are  seldom  read  in  Europe,  and 
less  in  Qreat  Britain  than  France. 

2dly.  That  if  the  tendency  of  such  writings  should 
be  (as  is  foolishly  pretended)  to  encourage  Great  Britain 
to  persevere  in  her  claims,  under  an  idea,  that  our  gov- 
ernment will,  by  the  force  of  our  reasoning  and  opposi- 
tion, be  compelled  toy  ieldjthe  effect  must  of  consequence 
be  equally  strong  the  other  way  upon  France,  by  con- 
vincing her  that  a  large  number  of  our  citizens  are  op- 
posed to  a  French  alliance  which  she  demands,  and  that 
our  government  cannot  resist  this  antigallican  party ;  so 
that  It  must  do  us  as  much  good  in  Frarce  as  injury  in 
Great  Britain. 

3dly.  Great  Britain  understands  too  well  the  nature 
of  free  governments,  to  interpret  every  political  essay 
into  the  expression  of  the  publick  will.  If  the  majori- 
ty of  the  votes  are  against  her  wishes  she  will  care  little 
for  what  is  said  by  newspaper  writers.  If  the  effect  of 
such  writings  should  be  a  legitimate  change  of  votes, 
and  a  majority  should  be  found  to  disapprove  the  con- 


I'll 

m 


86 


duct  of  administration,  then  indeed  the  effect  may  be 
produced  which  is  Jeared  by  the  democrats,  an  effect,  for 
the  express  production  of  which  the  right  of  the  press 
is  held  sacred,  and  to  which  it  ought  to  be  devoted. 

But  4thly.  Whatever  effect  these  writings  may  have 
on  your  rulers,  or  foreign  nations,  it  is  both  a  lawful 
and  valuable  effect.  It  is  a  lawful  one,  because  it  is  the 
very  check,  and  the  only  check,  which  the  constitution 
has  provided  against  the  abuse  of  power  by  rulers. 
They  might  sell  your  country,  if  you  could  not  be  at 
liberty  to  shew  to  the  people  the  infamy  of  the  bargain. 
It  is  a  valuable  effect,  inasmuch  as  it  may  deter  the  ru- 
lers from  corrupt  and  dangerous  projects,  and  it  holds 
forth  to  foreign  nations  motives  why  they  should  not 
plunge  us  into  a  war,  under  the  hope  on  the  one  side  and 
Jear  on  the  other,  that  our  councils  may  return  by  in- 
ternal and  constitutional  changes  to  a  fair  and  impartial 
course  of  conduct. 


t  i 


■T-J 


llh-^ffOSTILITY  TO  COMMERCE. 


The  third  general  charge  we  advance  against 
the  administration  is  the  undeviating  pursuit  of 

A  SYSTEM    OF    MEASURES    HOSTILE    TO    COMMERCE. 

The  establishment  of  this  charge  convicts  our  rulers 
not  only  of  want  of  wisdom,  but  want  of  good  faith, 
and  an  unprincipled  violation  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
the  federal  consitution.  We  offer  this  as  an  apology 
for  entering  more  into  aetail  under  this  head,  than 
would  otherwise  appear  consistent  with  the  plan  of  this 
manual. 

Mr.  Jefferson  as  early  as  1782  pretending  to  believe, 
that  "  it  was  best  for  America  to  abandon  the  ocean  al- 
together— to  leave  to  others  to  bring,  what  we  might 
want,  and  to  carry  wh^t  we  could  spare — that  it  would 
be  time  enough  to  set  jc  employment  for  our  citizens  at 
sea,  when  the  land  no  longer  offered." — See  notes  on 


t7 


Virginia-^In  1807  he  **  congratulates  us,  that  we  are. 
preparing  for  ourselves  those  comforts  and  convenien- 
ces of  life,  for  which  he  says  it  would  be  unwise  ever- 
more/o  recur  to  distant  countries,**  Answer  to  New 
Hampshire  address. 

But  the  Chinese  policy  had  not  its  oriein  even  in  the 
folly  of  speculation.  The  theory  was  published  to  con- 
ceal a  seffish  base  jealousy  of  the  commercial  states. 
For  the  same  restless  envy^  which  gnawed  like  a  viper 
on  the  vitals  of  Greece  now  infests  our  own,  and  we 
may  one  day  complete  our  resemblance  to  Athens  and 
Sparta  in  our  ruin. 

At  the  commencement  of  our  revolution.  New- Eng- 
land was  less  known  and  perhaps  not  more  respected  by 
the  southern  provinces,  than  the  Creeks  or  Miamis. 
There  was  no  room  to  envy  a  people  whose  fortunes 
were  too  humble  to  make  their  history  studied.  But 
in  the  heat  of  conflict,  when  our  passions  should  have 
had  no  object  but  our  enemy,  the  spirit  of  jealousy 
haunted  our  earliest  triumplis,  and  mingled  with  the 
first  hopes  of  independence.  ^ ., 

It  was  then  discovered,  that  our  physical  strength^ 
our  national  resources  were  to  be  found  north  of  the 
Chesapeake.  During  the  war  Washington  was  com- 
pelled in  spite  of  local  prepossessions  to  declare,  that 
his  hopes  of  independence  rested  chiefly  on  the 
strength,  and  spirits,  and  energy  of  New-England. 
The  fact  was,  that  our  exertions  to  secure  the  rights, 
we  are  so  earnest  to  preserve,  were  far  beyond  our  por- 
tion according  to  ordinary  calculations.  During  the 
war  the  regular  troops  raised  by  Massachusetts,  and 
actually  in  the  field  exceeded  the  regular  troops  raised 
and  mustered  by  Virginia  nearly  20,000  men.  The 
United  States  assumed  of  the  debt  of  Massachusetts^ 
4,000,000  dollars,  and  of  the  debt  of  Virginia, 
3,500,000  dollars.  The  citizens  of  Massachusetts 
funded  11,500,000  dollars— The  citizens  of  Virgi- 
nia 969,173  dollars  (less  than  a  million.)     And   on 


«a 


p 


And  on  an  adjustmeiit  of  the  balances  due  (lie  sevcrat 
states  from  the  U.  States,  the  sum  of  one  million  and  a 
half  was  awarded  for  Massachusetts,  not  as  payment 
v)f  her  just  claims,  but  as  the  most  the  debtor  states 
would  accede  to. 

The  unparalleled  increase  of  our  commerce  and  ca- 
pital since  the  peace  has  only  envenomed  the  Jealousy 
•which  the  discovery  of  our  resources  had  c  xcited. 
In  1791  Massachusetts  exported  only        JS  2,519,650 
^     Virginia  exported    -     -     -    -     3,113,865 
leaving  a  balance  infavour  of  Virginia        594,215 
But  in  1§04  the  enterprize  of  New-Eng- 
land, commensurate  with  her  resources 
had  so  far  altered  the  situation  of  these 
states  that  Massachusetts  exported     -      16,894,379 
And  Virginia  exported  only      -     -     -      5,790,000 

leaving  a  balance  in  favour  of  Mussa- 
^    chusetts  of 8  11,104,379 

This  constant  and  rapid  accumulation  of  capital, 
attended  with  a  correspondent  progress  in  refinement 
and  the  arts,  tended  only  to  irritate  that  spirit,  which 
dictated  the  sacrifice  of  our  fisheries  to  France  in 
1781-2,  and  has  since  made  us  abandon  the  ocean  to 
second  her  projects  of  empire. 
^  This  hatred  of  commerce  was  fostered  and  nourisli> 
ed  by  its  consistency  with  hatred  to  England,  and  de- 
votion to  France.  Our  trade  with  England  has  been 
of  prime  importance  to  our  navigation,  as  it  afforded 
us  a  ready  matket  for  more  of  our  domestiek  produce, 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  furnished  chiefly  on 
credit  the  articles  of  necessity,  convenience  and  ele- 
gance for  home  consumption,  for  our  intercourse  with 
other  countries  and  especially  our  trade  in  the  Pacifick 
ocean.  The  advantage  of  this  trade  to  both  countries, 
may  be  measured  by  its  extent. 

According  to  Mr.  Gallatin's  fiimous  report  in  180(>, 
calculated  on  an  average  of  three  vears  180^^-3-4  out 

1-7  ^ 


859|500,00O 


44,759,000 

11,560,000 

51,432,000 
6,118,000- 


8» 

:  eatoitnl  and  credit  employed  in  the  trade 
with  England  amounted  to    - «  « .   - 
While  our  trade  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  employred  a  capital  and  credit 

'  only  to  the  amount  of 

The  revenue  calculated  on  the  average  of 
these  years  amounted  to  .  .  .  ^ 
Of  which  amount  the  imports  from  Eng- 
land paid  -----i... 
And  the  ttadfc  of  thfc  rest  of  the  world  '• 
While  our  trade  yielded  to  Great  Britain  only  about 
dtie  eightieth  part  of  the  immense  revenue  she  is  com- 
pelled to  raise  to  maintain  h<.r  own  credit,  and  defend 
the  liberty  of  the  wofldi  ' 

As  the  ti*ade  destroyed  witii  England  by  a  dommer- 
cial^Warfare,  commenced  unider  the  pretext  of  protects 
iflgit,  wtiuld  be  forever  lost,  or  by  some  political  ne- 
utnhancy  revived  only  with  France  under  every  dis- 
advantage. Which  the  jealous  demagogues  of  the  South 
would  accede  io,  the  c  system  of  Mx,  Jefferson  was  so 
conb'ivedas  to' gratify  all  the  views  and  feelings  of  his 
partizans.  And  on  examination  it  will  be  found,  that 
all  his  politicar  manoeuvres  in  relation  to  commerce 
have   tended  either  to   impede   or   ofisTRtfcT   oft 

ANNIHILATE  IT,  OR  TO  DIVERT  IT  FROSf  ENG- 
LAND TO  France.  We  will  very  briefly  refer  to 
the  evidence  of  this  position. 

This  hostility  to  commerce  and  the  commercial 
states  is  provedj  > 

■  ■'''■     1st.  .       • 

BV  the  0J^P0«ITi0if  TO  THE  FUMI^tNG   sVsfiBM.  t^^ 

Without  it,  the  public  creditors  were  left  in  th^ 
worst  possible  situation.  The  principal  and  interest  of 
the  debti  which  was  the  price  of  oiir  liberty,  wotild  have 
been  almost  as  useless  as  precarious.  -But  the  fund- 
ing system,  which  Was  a^  just  as  politick,  revived  in 
the  commercial  States  at  once  a  large  capital  adequate 
to  our  spirit  of  enterprize,  and  sufficient  to  furnish  a 
revenue,  that  would  pay  all  the  ordinary  expenses  of 
12 


I  J;  I 


.'^^ 


?>  ^J^ 


^..-^ 


^ 


> 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


7 


A 


1.0 


I.I 


WUu 


IL25  i  1.4   ill  1.6 


^;; 


-% 


> 


5V 


7 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


K^ 


f 

government.  But  as  ¥ir§fiiiia  di^  not  hold  one  million 
of  dolls,  of  the  pubUadebt,  wlufe  Mas^chuaents  hold 
eleven  and  a  half  niiUionS)  there  was  no  more  dio^KMHi 
tion  to  allow  us  to  avail  ourseifes  of  iK^thbiiglv  iilift  xyay 
as  u$eful|6- the  coiintiy  as  to  ouxselves^  thim  topay.  the' 
creditor  States  thi^  amount  of  the  bid|^ceft  duie.  tbsili 
from  the  Union*    -     - 


;*'Jt.»ii :!!.)«! 


.PROOF  2. 

OPVOSft^OM  TO  THE  ESTABLlSHlfB^'^  07  T^ 

That  suchtjAn  institMtion  was  ab^olytjeb^  i)e<^ejm;ys^ 
the  proaper^Dft  administrali(m  of  qui?. ifin^ncei^'  iiim^t. 
have  been  evident  to  every  man^  who  Ipiiew  the  ^X^J^ 
tion  of  oofGQttntry — ^tliitffihe  revenue  v^s  colle^ti^iit 
numerojui  ports,  all  dis^  from  the  tref^|^--Hth9t:  % 
the  management  oJ^  our,«;o;i«erns  moi^ey.  w^^  \q  jaepi 
ia  other  places  than  where  r¥;Qei,ved-r-tha^,l;Q^f<J7e^^ 
which  is  Ihelife  and  soul  ofci^e^rty^fne  mode  of  j^c^ 
tating,  jiayment,.  withqwt  dete,  hs^aiidb  pr>  cj^fesie^ 
was  indispeDsabler-*n4  that  m  the  admmlsti^ip^  ()C 
jcvcrjr  government  ^erc  were  exiger^cj^g,  growing  qut 
of  circumstances,  if  jiot,  tfeypud  huma|n^;cpn|rql^,yi^ 
out  of  ordinary  calcu)ati.09$i  .which  ii^ndm^  sji^cli^  ^ 
establishment  as  prudent!^  as  convenipi^.  five  onjijr 
objection  to  this  in^titui^n  grew. out  of  ^e  i^c<essit]f 
of  the  mutual  aid  and  suppo^  it  must' give  sm4  i^ceive 
from  mercantile  capital— >from  the  "  momj?4  In^ere^t/' 
which  these  aristocratick  demagogues  have  ^p  long  ix' 
boured  to  bring  into  contempt  and  expose  to  public 
odii^m.  They  saw  that  its  negotiations  mu9t  centre  in 
the  commercial  marts  of  die  country,  and  th^t  any  po- 
litical influence  attached  to  it  would  belong  to  the  same 
portion  of  isociety.  This  foresight  made  them  overlook 
all  the  benefits  of  this  favourite  plan  of  Hamilton,  and 
excited  a  loud,  long^  and  vehement  opposition,^  which 
in  vain  sought  to  conceal  its  malignancy  under  a  pre- 
tended regard  to  an  abstract  principle.  Our  previous 
remarks  sncw  the.  sincerity  of  thdr  zeal. 


w 


91 

PROQF  3. 
OPPOSrTION    TO  A    NAVY. 

An  extennve  and  lucrative  commerce  without  an  ef- 
fective navy  is  aimost  a  contradiction  in  terms.  The 
necessity  of  tf  lis  protection  to  the  succ6^  of  national 
policy  ^d  piivate  enteqirize'  inspired  the  commercial 
portion  of  society  with  their  zeal  for  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. Mr.  Jefferson  also  had  stated  in  his  **  Nbtes 
on  Virginia,"  that  the  United  States  in  one  year  might 
build  and  equip  eighteen  ships  of  the  line  and  twelve 
|Hgates«  From  such  resources,  thus  admitted  and  the- 
oretically applied  by  such  a  man,  they  naturally  consid* 
ered  an  effective  naval  armament  pledged  to  them. 
Under  this  delusion,  and  convinced  that  the  protection 
of  commerce  would  give  security  to  life,  liberty,  and 
hiippiness,  they  readily  agreed  to  the  sacrifices  required 
ofj'tnem  in  the  ■constitution,  and  amon^  other  things 
abandoned  their  proper  influence  m  the  Union  to  the 
slave-holders  of  the  South — With  what  sensibility  did 
th^y  afterwards  hear  these  same  men,  in  1794,  rejoice, 
"tnat  the  wood,  which  was  to  build  our  ships,  was  still 
growing  on  our  mountains  !"^ajV^^ 

The  first  attempt  of  the  federalists  at  a  naval  estab- 
lishment was  immediately  after  tKe  capture  of  eleven 
American  ships  and  100  Ameriiwui  seamen  by  the  Al- 
gerines,  whose  success  had  stimulated  them  to  prepare 
U^  'extensive  depredation  oh  v  our  unprotected  tom- 
merce.  But  Mr.  Jefferson^ s  partizans,  With  thAt  das- 
tardly spirit,  i^hich  jealousy  ia-ever  weak  enough  to 
betray^  opposed  every  kind  of  naval  armament,  and  in- 
sisted that  Americans  should  adt^t  one  of  two  substi- 
tutes-^lst.  PuB^cHASE  A  PEACE,  though  thc  expe- 
rience of  evenr  age  and  our  own  fruitless  Attempts  prov- 
ed, that  the  Algbrines  only  sold  a  peace  to  those  who 
chimed  it  under  then*  own  flags,  and  at  the  mouth  of 
their  cannon~^or  2d.  "  That  we  should  subsidize 
othir  nations  to  protect  our  cowm^rr^"— though  the 
(/anfi^e/*  of  such  a  measure,  of  trusting  for  protection  to 
nations    who  wpuld  make  peace  the  first  &vourable 

*  Mr,  Giles,  then  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 


92 


opportunity  and  leave  our  commerce  a  helpless  prey  to 
pirates,  was  as  ^oss  and  palpable  as  its  dishonour, 
£veiy  man  can  discern  how  well  such  schemes  com- 
port with  national  pride  and  national  failh-*-how 
much  regard  they  evinced  for  the  success  of  commerce, 
and  how  much  interest  "  in  the  cause  qf  st^fering  fut- 
manity." 

The  same  men  discovered  the  same  temper  and  ufg^ 
cd  a  worse  policy  in  1798,  when  France  Imd  plundered 
us  on  every  sea,  organized  treason  in  the  states,  block- 
aded our  coast  with  her  cruizers  and  demanded  a  trib. 
ute  of  50)000/.  sterling  as  the  price,  not  of  substantial 
justice,  but  of  formal  negociation. .  Every  obstacle,  that 
art  and  intrigue  could  create,  and  that  impudence  dare 
resort  to  ^vas.opposed  to  a  naval  establishment.  These 
men  had  not  a  nerve,  that  shrunk  under  our  sufferance 
of  the  most  savage  pilla^  and  outrage.  The  journals 
of  Congress  at  that  penod  are  as  disgraceful  as  those  of 
1781,  which  ought  to  exhibit  to  us  the  series  of  treach- 
erons  attempts  ui^t  were  then  made  to  deprive  us  of  the 
Fisheries,  ^d  transfer  them  to  France^-^This  solemn 
fact  is  on  record.  fFhen  the  French  everyi  where  prac^ 
tised  PIRACY  on  our  eommereey  and  held  courts  only  to 
legalize  f>,  Mr,  Jefferson'' s  partizansy  to  a  man,  iftsisf 
ea  that  we  should  not  resist.  According  to  these 
Patriots,  we  were  cheerfully  to  abandon  our  claims  to 
the  **  Grand  Monarque^"*  and  patiently  be  pillaged  tiy 
the  tefrible  republtck.  a  .;  vT    .  v    m^ 

Since  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  poWer,  our 
naval  establishment  has  been  reduced  from  15  frigates 
and  12  ships,  to  9  frigates  and  2  ships.  Part,  of  the 
vessels  in  commission  have  been  sold,>andas.if  to  mock 
the  claims  of  those,  who  directly  furpish  the  revenue 
of  the  country,  to  irritate  them  by  an  idle  waste  of  suras, 
which,  if  wisely  employed,  might  have  afforded  effec- 
tual protection  against  imperial  piracy^ « they  have 
heard  only  of  schemes  of  dry-docks,  of  whirlygig-gun^ 
carriages,  and  torpedoes,  and  have  seen  our  fleet  trans- 
fQrmed  into  gunboats,  which  excite  our  alarms  for  their 


m 


iafety  in  the  storm,  instead 'dfafTordiiig  us  some  prom- 
ise of  protection  in  war.  -  / 
.  Do  we  ask  further  evidence  of  the  last  and  present 
administration,  having^  adopted,as  their  mdto,  the  coun- 
tersign of  Bonapiirte-^"  PERISH  COMMERCE  V* 
The  proofs  are  at  hand.    '                              '^ . 

.  ;  FROpF  4. 

JkCTS  MSS^RAiiriNO  C9MM|BBC9t  CAtLED  BY  MR.  MASIIOH)  **  THE 
.    9XKRCI8B  Or.aUR  RBtTRICTIVB  ENBHOIB9.'* 

.  A  succession  of  measures^  all  urged  under  a  pretence 
of  their  tendency  to  support  commerce,  fariit  calcnlated, 
j}n  the  face  of  them^  to  restrict  and  contract  if  not  de- 
stroy it,  has  marked  the  party  in  powerirom  its  first 
factions  organization.  Every  limitation  was  to  extend, 
every  shackle .  was  to  secure  its  freedom,  as  if 'gird- 
ling the  trunk  of  the.elm  would  increase  its  growth  and 
stength.  Th^:  f^t  is,  that  Jefferson  had  inspired  his 
immediate  partizallsl3iVith.hi^  own  jealousies,  and  delu- 
ded his,  ^rthem  friends  with  thb  cant  of  a  demagogue, 
pd  the  gloss  <^  a  sophisti  They  agreed  that  he  sHoulcl 
loake.PMrxomisieDQe  the  fulcrum  of  his  policy,  instead 
of  ^svng  pi|r  fjesouijces  to  protect  our  commerce — that 
he  sliip^ld  thrQW  oniH  all  the  burdens  of  his  blunders, 
and  make  >  it  at.  o^ce  the  instrument  of  his  warfare  and 
intrigues..  If  he  s^Qceeded,  he  had  of  course  the  dredit 
due  tQjiia  measureSf.^  If  he  failed,  he  had  still  a  word 
of  c^9fiajfpi^;to  cheerlius  amongst  the  wrecks  of  desolated 
qomn^e^cf^,  H^nWpiuld  repeat  to  us  cooly  and  philo- 
sophically,, jl^at  ^^  we  could  now  abandon  the  ocean  al- 
toget^r,  and  let  others  bl'ing  what  we  wanted,  and  car- 
JYi  ^way  what  we  could  spare."  We  shaU  find  that 
jiln  Jefler^n  never  relinquished  the  concession  niade 
to  him  by  his  party.  - 

The;  first  attempt  to  restrain  commerce,  made  under 
the  auspyk$$s  of  Mfi  Jefferson,  was  the  introduction  of 
Mr.  M^d^son's  resollutions  into  Congress,  in  1794,  in 
order  to^establishjpoinTrierciai  discriminations  between 
Fi^npe  Wid  EnglaRpi*  '  At  that  period,  France  had  never 


!^^ 


M 


!'t 'S  i'\ 


M 


90: 


made  aav  differeno^  in  hefpofiM  htiyrem  £riglahd>said 
America;  whereks  England,  by iier  idiscrimuuitiQiis  b 
our£M'K»ttvM:g«V^^s  «^  mofiopolir  of  itomtartldes 
of  dfiea^  produce,  and  enabtea  us  to&ett'othe^ 
diei^iprt^  «i^  other  natllro,  luid  at  a  i^terprofiti 
The  im^Qirtance  of  the  trade  witli£n|[iand  to^onccouh. 
toy  and  revenue  we  have  before  bnefly  stated.  We 
here  fiuthjcr  observe,  that  £f%lai^  was  the  great  mar. 
li^  for  ism  domestick  produce.  Accordin||^  iAMt, 
Gdlatin'i  reports,  #e  have  in  sdnie  ye^  sold  ten  times 
as  muoh  to  England  as  to  Ffance.  In  Kk  &m6us^Te. 
port,^  1806;  which  was  intended  aa  a  preMble  to 
Gneglf  s  ai^  Smith's  non^importation  resolutions^  it  zp. 
pear^that  on  an;  average  ct  thfe  years  1802-3--4,  we 
exported  dmaettdck  produce  to  England  J52O,653,O00 
^Ta  the  i^sl/^<^the  world      -    -    ♦    -      19,375,000 

TiieJ^«ffihild^&  tonnage emfdoyedin  f  U'li  ijU  n 
die  tiade  wth  Enghind,  at  the  rate  of  3^"^'     :/  ; 
hilars  per  ton  pci;  month^  would  havb  p  -  J:^ 
f^ounted  annually,  at  least  to     -    -  '  j   '^  +^^ 

Tliis  immense  q^mmeisce  was  to  have  be^l  jebiM- 
|zed  by  this  attempt  to  commence)^  irrii^tin^  ivarfare.t^ 
i;ommercUl  discriminations.  All  those  asperttil^  i^t^ 
to  be  excited,  and  all  those  dangers 'to  be'  ^coni^red, 
wluch  would  naturally  result  worn  duch  a  cdnt^tj  in 
which  our  avarice  would  have  b«en  disappointed,  and 
our  hatr^  Idse  none  of  its  adrimony.  But^^r  whiit 
cause,  #hat  mighty  boon  were  these  hazM^^I^' iie 
courted?  They  have  been  avowed,  and  to  th^di^gl^ce 
of  our  coiuitry,  they  never  will  be  f6i^otten.<  '^^*''^^^^'''  ' 

Mr.  Jefierson,  in  his  official  investigations,  had^  dis- 
covered that  Great  Britdn,  in  one  year,  furnished  us 
witli  goods  to  the  amdunt  of      -   *  -    -    J513V^6,O(50 

ifrance  only  to  the  amount  of  -    -    -    '     ,155^000 

It  was  at  once  determined  to  turn  us  out  of  th^-  ntarket 
we  were  induced  to  seek,  because  we  sold  d^t^r  and 
bought  cheaper  than  elsewhere,  and  compel  >tis>(;o  drm 
a  trade  with  our  sister  republick;  MrkMa^Usk)^;  m^ 
this  statement  of  our  trade  with  the  twc^coUntri^si;  iind 


* 


9A 

so0ie,  iliU^Qii9  r^DQiarks  about  the  balance  of  trad^^^- 
0nf(^  ^  What;  muat  be  the  feelinga  of  france,  b&. 
tw^qn  yf\^qvf^  andi  the.tj^  Stai^  the  moatftpeiMtfjr  ichu 
tipna^xiisti  when  ^  aees  not  only  the  bahiiQeiiir.tfade 
against  her,  but  iSiatwhat  is  obtained  fronxhovfiowa 
io^^^  coffisrs  of  one,0C  her  most  jeakMis  rivalai" 

4  ^ing^e  vote  preveoited  the,ado|ition<Qf  tUa  ruinoua 
ppliQy»  for  whose  futrtheranee,  IVbk  Mfersoo,  iuhiii  ofi- 
c]^  c^ciQr,  f^ip^^  a  decieptivei  report,  wh|dh.«aa^' 
to  lii^. eternal  d&9g««ee;  fuUy  exposed  by  JljaaMtton.i 
When  we  i^ddthat  thl[^  nieasuie  was  urged  wimai  view' 
olTdlefeatipg  Mr.;  Ja^'ii  mission:  to  Englahd^ita  cfaarac^ ' 
ter  is  Gomplele^-d^lQsed.    It  was  an  attempt  ta  aao  < 
n|ce  our  cpm^ifim^^  under  an  afiectatiosi  ot  jpatlonal 
||iatitude.     [5.  Marshall's  Washington,  cap.  7^ 


TheMlt  firoi 


Jkf  Tradt  wiik  St  Ihmitigpii 


i|l||^  bp  d^issed  under  this  heac^  and'  though  perhafMi 
I^  iiuportant  ip  ^rcnntof  e«te«(t».  wilLlbrever  be  dishon^ 
ojjtc^bley  for  the  pri,i¥;;^]eoa  is^ich:  it  ^^  founded.  We 
i^e  in  anotf^ESf  place  disl^tly  ex|xrcssed  our  senti- 
vff^  on  thitpiain  proof'  of  .the^  influence  iiduch  con- 
troi^le4  our  cm\pfi%- .  Wq  )«fe9  to  it  a^n  in  this^  pbce 
mi^^  to  fhpwhow  unwoelhilgr  the  govenuBcna  have 
afj^don^d  more  tl^*^  once  thp  commence  o£  our  coi^-^ 
tnf,  wh«^  put  in  competition  with  the  ciaims  of  France, 
qf  "iji^teyeF  naturei  or  however  urged.  The  men  who 
yhsM  not  (^ye,  it  a  defence  ag«anst  her  piratical  cruiz- 
es, did  not  hesitate  tQannihiUte  it  at  the  command  of 

X1|C.  QHib'' ^^P^"*'^^^^^^^  ^^^  acts  and  the  oth> 
er  refitriot.^e  laws  on  commerce  is,  that  the  o^rs  had 
some,  apjolpgy  in  an  Intention  to  abo'idge  English  reve- 
n^e  as  well  »s  ouf  mercan^le  profts.  But  in  this 
case  we  were  the  ^oU  victms^  Mngland  gained  (KreoHii' 
bu  thU  restrietiQtif  Ths  men  wm  declaim  so  much 
about  British  Ueencfif  fpic  tlj^exienmon  of  our  tntde^ 
felt  no  ccNPpunction  9i,  it$  ruction  by  French  exclu- 
sions; ai>d,  according  tQCustbffn,;  shewed  a  di^osition 
to  sacrifice  more  to  propitiate  French  power,  than  they 
would  spend  to  protect  American  commerce. 


^ 


To.  prove  the  undue  inflttthee  of  Mr.  Iefl(i»l%bn  6ifte 

foMMsfctcii*^  ..  <i:»''^ ''•' '  ■'<•>•»•  ic^' '^  ■';''■    '-i-.  ■•'■'',' ^' ^''" a • 
ThdlDft  attempt  tM'VMiti  nuide'iti  CotiwtdltiWm- 
hibit  this  trade  was  Uletal^'  istouled  Out  6f  the  eii^itol, 
as^inipQlitic)^,  opM^^> .  aodi^gracefoL    WhttHei< 
Qiaiipg^mitli^M  St.  jD6i> 

mltp>||p|t<it^  or  had  iiot  jsbtitriyed  tnbdes  of  -c^adiii^^ 
thrl^Hiq^  Wa<f  tp  yottt/fori*-H)r •  -ivletber;  as  w4i  hopei^ 
thitii^^^qp^itof  our  legtsfaitdrs  fekisted  si^hat  Mr* 
pace^  called  **  too  muchregtd<$iimi^^^^i^^  imu^ 
;hts  aJDeined  for  the  tithe  prSiected  by  i^tidhal 


[be  del]j|»ion  was  m&mentary.    /JThe  v^if^  of  ^Bp^ 
iMparteat  leiugi^  mor^«awlbiy2>ir»i^tnah  tW 

cCr^^tfiik  ;Tsiile7^^  the  'gbvemment  #itll 

gwit^  focihytoteMim  tt^  irdd^^,  and  tK^lil^ifbcfs 
of  the.cabinet  qualoedi  Dr.  Lo|^,  the  envbjit  ^xtra^ 
ordinary  of  Mr.  I^erso^i  and  his  pany  to  Franc6^^  dxit^ 
ing  the  adtmnistiatidn'of  Mri  Adam$,  becliiiie  tKie'td^n 
of  hia  firiend  in  dip  Senate.  He  ihet  %ilh^ulEtI  success 
in  both  enlerprtzes,  for  h^  pei^uad^  iTalle^W 
negotiate  in  the  first  case^j  and  Congress  to  subtt(it  in 
the  second.  His  i^U  was  run  •  with  su^h  all  ^fii/ '  of 
terrcr  through;  Congress,  that  they  whi&'%eit  p^fiylt«^' 
to  hear  it  before  they  jiosBed  it^  kn^w  ^earcdy  a#f  ^ii^ 
ciAtA  provisions.  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adttinsy  who  did  tbt  S. 
that  time  think,  **it  was  best  to  aot  first  and  then  de^ 
.liberate,"  liad  only  time  to  observe,  **that  the  bill  was 
a  needless  interference  of  gbverhme^t  With  t^e  regular 
course pfcoii^merce."  His  objeetibn  seeliii^,tofur' 
msh  an  argument  for  the  measure^  and  the  maft^te  of 
BouMiarte  becamq  the  law  of  the  latid. 

W©  have  before!  shewn  that  this  bill  Was  a  base  sur* 
render  of  our  honour  and  independence.  We  have 
no  data  at  hand  from  which  we  may  cdculate  the 
amount  of  thelossjbul  whatever  it  yff^&f  the  ikerchants 
alone  Iclt  it. 


th  mov-impo 


'if'tif, 


97 


TIB  VOV-IMPOBTATIOir,   KMBABOO,  AND  NON-IMTXBCOVBIE  LAWf. 

These  measureti  are  all  of  the  same  character  and 
have  the  same  direction,  uiidtir  the  same  motives.  The 
temper  that  on\y  dared  to  refuse  protection  to  coil)- 
merce  in  1794  and  '98  has  grown  bold  enough'  to  pro- 
ject its  ruin. 

As  in  this  general  sketch,  it  is  impossible  to  point 
dut  all  the  motives  and  tendency  of  particular-  modifi- 
cations of  the  system,  we  shall  under  this  heiad  con- 
fine ourselves  to  a  consideration  of  the  operation  of 
the  embargo.  This  went  at  one  stroke  '^  to  make  us 
abandon  the  ocean  altogether,"  and  supplefnehts  would 
have  been  invented,  if  a  servile  temper  in  the  people 
would  have  sufT^red  its  continuance,  which  would'  ex- 
clusively have  permitted  "  others  to  bring  us  what  loe 
-mnted,  and  to  have  carried  awajf  what  we  could  spare" 
The  produce  of  the  south  would  have  found  a  market 
iD  foreign  bottoms,  and  we  should  never  again  have 
'*  jostled  on  the  high  seas  with  other  nations." 

The  letters  of  Champagny  and  Hauterive,  which  we 
have  quoted,  shew,  who  "  applauded  our  generous  de- 
termination  of  renouncing  all  commerce,"  and  who 
denounced  "  the  raising  of  the  embargo,*'  as  the  most 
artful  and  important  manoeuvres  ever  practised  by  the 
English  cabinet*'  We  would  only  add  on  this  point, 
that  no  man  has  yet  had  liardihood  enough  to  pretend, 
that  the  embargo  was  djji 'mental  to  France,  or  wonld 
effect  the  repeal  of  the  decrees,  which  it  mosteffectual- 
Ij  executed. 

But  how  did  it  affect  American  commerce  ?  At  the 
moment  of  its  adoption  it  appears  from  Mr.  Gallatin's 
report  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  was  unex- 
ampled ;  that  our  capital  bads  wollen  to  J520O,O0O,OOO 
dollars,  the  revenue  of  1807  to  -  -  «  16,000,059 
In  spite  of  the  enmity  and  oppression  of  government^ 
commerce  acquired  activity  from  native  health  and  vi- 

13 


m 


goTf  and  increased  even  under  this  chilling  and  forbid- 
ding admUu^nition.  At  tbis  moment  ve  became  a 
party  to  BiMiaparte's  annHiilatiiig  lyttem^  and  under 
tbeiniidibuf  pretence  of  securiBfC  om  pronertj  from 
pillagOji  Mr.  Jefferson  uraed  a  deliberate  blow  at  our 
wbqle  foreign  trade,  to  whicb  we  owe  most  of  our 
national  greatness,  and  much  of  our  private  h^ppinen. 
.  But  intolerable  as  tbis  polic^^  was«  which  sacri6ced 
OS  to  the  projects  of  Napoleon,  it  became  doubly  vex- 
atious,  WDCB  we  considered  the  imequaiity  of  Us  opera- 
tidn  on  the  several  states.  The  commercial  parts  of 
the  union  became  the  immediate  victims  of  this  coin- 
cidence with  Bonaparte  in  bis  commercial  warfare 
agaiuflt  Great  Britain. 

To,  prove  this  inequality  we  will  contrast  the  extent 
of  the  operation  of  the  embargo  on  the  states  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Virginia,  as  the  view  of  tbeir  different  in- 
.terests  at  stake  will  give  a  clue  to  the  views  i^nd  prin- 
ciples  by  which  the  cabinet  were  influenced. 

In  1807  Massachusetts  exported  -  f&%OM%m 
Viiginia  exported  ---..--  g4J6l.234 
Difference  in  favour  of  Massachusetts     8  1 0,350,786 

Tonnage  of  Massachusetts    -    -    -    -  46O,0(X) 

Tonnage  of  Virginia    -    ^    -    -    -    *•  d^fiOO 

Difference  in  favour  of  Massachusetts    -         381,000 

Freights  on  450,000  tons  per  ann.  at  24  del- 

liirsperton    -    ------      » 10,800,000 

Freights  on  69,000  tpn      -      -      -      -  g  1,656.000 

Difference  in  favour  of  Massachusetts  S  9,144.000 
Thus  Massachusetts  lost  on  freights  alone  a  sum 
equal  to  twice  the  amount  of  the  whole  capital  em- 
ployed by  Virginia  in  her  foreign  trade.  Our  naviga- 
tion for  the  time  was  wholly  sacrificed,  but /ter  capital 
remains  safe. 

The  only  answer  ever  given  by  tlie  government  in 
official  documents  to  tbis  statement  was,  that  the 
French  decrees  and  English  orders  left  us  no  safe  cm' 


H 


foerci ;  and  ib«ref»re  tbera  yvaa  no  jutt  grounds  to 
complun  of  the  retlriotions  imposed  on  tnde  by  our 
own  adoiioittration.  If  there  wm  any  itM  in  this 
anawer,  we  would  ask  how  do  our  merenaoti  now 
carry  on  an  ektensive  and  lucrative  commerce  in  spite 
of  the  decrees  and  edicts  of  thebelligerents  ?  This  fact 
eiposes  completely  the  incorrectness  of  this  assertion 
of  the  government. 

But  a  short  statement  founded  on  the  reports  of  Mr. 
Gallatin  will  tbrever  put  thia  question  at  rest — it  wHl 
ihew,  thai  we  could  have  carried  on  with  safety  a  lar> 
ger  trade  than  will  remain  to  this  country  in  the  tiino 
of  peace. 
In  the  year  1803,  our  exports  fell  from  895,000,000 
in  consequence  of  peace  in  Europe,  ib  855,000,000 

Making  a  difl*erettce  in  one  year  of    -  840.000,000 

^According  to  Mr.  Gallatin's  report  in 
18)97,  vire  exported  of  domestick  produce  848,699,000 

The  Engii.<<h  orders  left  ports  open 
which  received  of  domeatick  produce.-  838,937,388 

Of  foreign  produce  -  -  •  824^,140,495 
Making  in  the  whole  of  produce  ei ported  6^,078,883 

Thus,  it  appears  that  at  the  moment  of  the  embargo 
a  more  extensive  and  lucrative  commerce  might  have 
been  pursued  than  will  remain  to  us  after  peace.  The 
excess  of  premiums  of  insurance  would  have  been 
greatly  Over-balanced  by  the  extra  profits  of  trade,  and 
we  might  have  continued  '*  in  the  full  tide  of  success- 
ful experiment,"  from  which  we  have  been  driven,  only 
in  effect,  to  give  to  England  the  monopoly  of  the  trade 
of  the  world. 

To  esca|)e  the  censure  and  indignation  to  which  this 
simple  statement  exposed  the  administration,  while 
England  was  assured  by  our  double-faced  cabinet,  that 
the  embargo  was  merely  a  precautionary  measure,  the 
American  people  were  told  it  was  the  fair  exeroise  of 
our  "  restrictive  energies,"  and  woujd  compel  Great 
Britain  to  abandon  her  orders  in  council.    But  this 


'  I 


100 

promise  that  it  would  coerce  England,  was  asftllacioas 
as  the  declaration  that  it  would  not  injure  us  was  un. 
true.  EMghuid  was  so  ftr  from  sinking  under  the  prei. 
sure  of  our  commercial  warfare,  that  from  her  own  nat. 
ural  increase,  and  from  the  action  of  her  immense  cap. 
ital,  her  resources  have  daily  augmented.  Her  revenue 
has  become  equal  to  the  innumerable  claims  that  have 
been  made  on  it.  For  two  years  she  has  carried  on  the 
most  extensive  militarv  enterprizes,  without  increasing 
the  publick  debt.  This  has  been  diminished  by  the 
operation  of  the  sinking  fund,  which  now  amounts  to 
180  millions  sterling.  The  colonies  of  France  are  pro. 
babiy  all  in  her  hands,  except  the  Isle  of  Fraitce.  Her 
isUUids  are  now  flourishing  beyond  example  from  the 
monopoly  they  enjoy,  and  from  the  operation  of  the 
laws  of  the  mother  country ;  while  the  provinces  of  Can- 
ada and  Nova  Scotia,  that  have  heretofore  been  a  charge 
upon  her,  have  learned  the  value  of  their  own  produc* 
tions,  and  will  supplant  us  in  markets,  which  were  for. 
merly  supplied  by  us. 

This  deceptive  system  of  domestick  protection  and 
foreign  coercion,  has  proved  effectual  only  at  home  and 
in  the  way  it  was  intended.  We  have  not  credulity 
enough  to  believe,  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  after  the  experi- 
ence of  the  revolutionary  war  dreamed  of  any  other  re- 
suit.  This  compliance  with  the  mandates  of  France, 
had  another  charm  besides  its  designed  hostility  to  £ng. 
land.  It  was  almost  wholly  at  the  expense  of  the  eastern 
states  :  and  would  have  been  persevered  in  to  our  ru- 
in, if  Mr,  Jefferson's  congratulations  on  our  loss  qf  trait 
and  navigation,  could  have  induced  us  **  to  abandon  the 
ocean  altogether,  and  never  more  to  reciir  for  articles 
of  comfort  and  convenience  to  foreign  nations."  Its 
obvious  injury  to  this  country  and  its  impotence  as  it 
respected  England,  authorize  us  to  declare,  that  it  was 
in  the  main  a  part  of  that  unjustifiable  system,  which  a 
jealousy  of  the  commercial  states  has  generated.  It 
was  intended  to  introduce  a  change  in  our  national  hab- 
it^and  pursuits,  to  drive  us  to  occupations  unsuited  to 


101 


our  dispositions,  and  to  prepare  us  for  that  degradation 
which  need  never  be  dreaded,  so  long  as  we  are  per- 
nitted  to  pursue  that  copimerce,  for  which  the  inhabi-' 
tints  of  New  England  are  peculiarly  qualified  by  their 
entcrprize,  their  energy  ana  indefatigable  industry. 

Under  this  head  may  be  cited,  in  proof  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's indifference  or  hostility  to  commerce,  the  substi- 
tution of  that  branch  of  the  impost,  denominated  the 
Mediterranean  fund  for  the  internal  taxes.  Though 
this,  with  v\l  other  duties  of  import,  is  in  fact  finaUy 
paid  by  tb;^  consumer,  and  in  tliat  view,  may  be  said  to 
operate  on  all  the  citizens  in  proportion  to  their  con- 
sumption to  foreign  articles,  ^et  the  whole  is  to  be  ad- 
vanced bv  the  importer,  and  it  thus  necessarily  operates 
as  a  burthen  upon  commerce. 

,We  say  nothing  here,  of  the  fact  that  by  this  new 
m^ure,  an  annual  tax  of  1,500,000  dollars,  the  pro- 
duct of  this  new  duty,  has  been  levied  upon  the  people 
in  lieu  of  750,000  dollars,  the  whole  annual  produce  of 
the  internal  taxes,  nor  of  the  meanness  whicii  the  gov- 
ernment has  exhibited  in  its  engagement  to  discontmue 
this  new  burthen  upon  commerce  within  three  months 
after  a  peace  with  the  barbary  powers,  and  yet  contin- 
uing it  by  renewed  acts  to  this  time,'  although  a  settled 
peace  has  for  years  existed  between  the  United  States 
and  those  powers. 

PROOF  5. 

HATRED  AND  COMTBMPT  OF  MERCHANTS  AND  OP  THE  MERCANTILE 

STATES,  EXPRESSED    IN  CONGRESS  RT  VRIEND8  OP  THE 

ADMINISTRATION. 

This  indecorum  is  not  noticed  with  a  wish  to  excite 
toimosity,  but  because  it  affords  strong  presumptive 
proof  of  the  existence  of  the  disposition  and  designs, 
we  have  imputed  to  the  administration.  It  discovers 
to  the  people  of  New- England,  that  if  their  wealth  and 
refinement  have  raised  them  above  the  contempt  of 
Southern  demagogues,  it  has  been  only  to  expose  them 
to  their  envy-^that  jealousy  finding  nothing  in  our  for- 


102 


tune  to  gratify  its  spleen  has  searched  for  something  to 
condemn  in  our  pursuits  and  national  character. 

Perhaps  in  charity  we  may  and ''should  in  some  de- 
gree overiook  these  sarcasms,  as  they  come  from  men 
who  alwiiys  associate  the  idea  of  labour  and  slavery-^ 
who  have  heretofore  regarded  merchants  rather  as  the 
factors  and  brokers  ci  planters  than  their  companions ; 
—and  who  cannot  entirely  forget  the  humble  drudger)- 
of  a  trader  in  the  view  of  his  improvement — But  when 
they  pass  from  raillery  to  abuse  and  libel  a  whole  com- 
munity  to  sanction  a  violation  of  principle  and  an  out. 
tage  on  their  rights,  we  have  evidence  of  a  temper, 
which  has  no  respect  for  our  characters,  and  probably 
as  little  regard  to  our  feelings  and  interests^ 

With  this  sentiment  we  pass  by  the  insolence  of 
those,  who  replied  officially  to  the  petitioners  of  New- 
England  for  the  repeal  of  the  Embargo,  that  "  they 
could  find  no  necessity  to  change  the  policy  of  the 
country  to  permit  the  exportation  of  pork  and  pota- 
toes."— -We  make  no  remark  on  the.  delicacy j_or  sym- 
pathy of  others,  who  in  debate  on  our  most  important 
interest  could  propose  "to  turn  the  merchants  and 
clerks  with  their  powdered  heads,  and  the  seamen  and 
fishermen  of  the  middle  and  eastern  states  out  of  their 
compting-rooms  and  vessels,  and  set  them  to  spinning 
cotton  and  hoeing  tobacco."  While  we  pursue  hon- 
est ends  by  honest  means  we  shall  not  blush  on  reading 
the  history  of  our  pursuits,  or  even  at  a  proposal  to 
change  them.  But  when  Mr.  Eppes  probably  in  the 
language  o^  Mr.  Jefferson  denounces  the  manly  spirit 
excited  in  New-England  by  the  Embargo  "  as  the  true 
principle  of  Toryism  emanating  from  British  agents^'' 
when  Mr.  Nelson  and  Campbell  propose  bleeding,  if  we 
are  not  quieted  by  menaces,  and  when  Mr.  R.  D.  Wil- 
liams  declares"  ^/wf  national  honor  is  but  a  name  an  empty 
sound  with  us — tlmt  the  love  of  country  does  not 
warm  our  bosoms — that  liberty  has  no  charm  for  us — 
t/iat  gold  is  the  god  we  worships  and  that  we  would 
wallow  in  the  7mre  of  debasement  to  extract  one  grain 


103 

fiom  its  filthy  sands.^*  When  we  consider  that  all  thia 
virulence  is  a  reply  to  the  kwful  expression  of  national 
sentiment,  we  cannot  hope  tliat  there  exists  a  stronger 
disposition  to  protect  our  rights  than  to  reliere  our  £s« 
tiesses — Burke  said  he  could  not  dra\?  an  indictment 
against  a  whole  people — Our  cabinet  have  found  men 
who  could,  and  the  only  question  now  with  the  gov- 
ernment seems  to  be,  if  we  shall  be  punished  wtth^^r* 
petual  imprisonment. 

Such  outrageous  abuse  coming  from  such  a  source 
leaves  little  room  to  hope  tliat  our  wishes  or  interests 
have  any  weight  in  the  decisions  of  the  cabinet  on  our 
national  policy.  Commerce  can  have  but  feeble 
friends,  where  merchants  are  the  subjects  of  derision 
and  calumny. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  THIRD  GENERAL  HEaD. 

The  facts  which  we  have  stated  under  this  head,  in 
connection  with  others,  considered  or  referred  to  in  a 
oreceding  part  of  this  work  must,  if  uncontrolled,  af- 
ford conclusive  evidence  of  a  temper  and  designs,  in 
the  last  and  present  federal  administration,  hostile  to 
commerce,  and  growing  out  of  their  jealousy  of  the 
commercial  states.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  friends  saw  and 
felt  that  this  conclusion  would  be  drawn  from  a  simple 
view  of  his  projects  and  measures.  Success  intheir  plan 
required  concealment  of  the  end  they  had  in  view ; 
and  they  very  naturally  had  recourse  to  an  affectation 
of  extreme  regard  to  commerce,  in  order  to  conceal 
their  hatred  of  it.  Hence  arose  that  intemperate  zeal 
in  debate  for  the  defence  of  what  they  called  the  rights 
of  neutrality  in  the  abstract,  while  tlieir  measures 
have  exposed  our  existing  commerce  to  every  insult 
and  outrage  abroad,  and  prepared  for  its  annihilation  at 
home. 

Their  clamour  at  the  commencement  of  the  French 
revolutionary  war  broke  out  against  the  English  colo- 
nial system.     They  contended  that  we  had,  on  general 


i  <  I 


Mi 

!  iUi  li 


m 

principles,  an  equal  right  to  a.  free  trade  with  colonies 
as  tfie  mother  country  ;  though  the  policy  of  every 
nation  in  Jairope,  without  exception,  in  time  of  peace, 
was  direcuy  opposed  to  these  pretensions.  Tliey  point- 
ed out  to  us  the  conduct  of  France  in  ppeping  her  col- 
onies, as  an  expression  of  the  rule,  and  not  ^he  excep- 
tion; but  omitted  to  state,  that  the  true  reason  of  the 
temporary  suspension  of  her  standing  laws,  was  an  ina- 
bility to  carry  on  her  trade  with  .them,  owing  to  the 
power  of  the  British  navy.  They  railed  at  England  as 
unjust,  in  insisting  on  her  old  title  to  privileges  she  was 
able  to  maintain,  but  passed  over  in  silence  the  seventy 
of  the  colonial  system  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  who  se. 
cured  their  monopoly,  by  condemning  smugglers  to 
the  mines. 

After  England  had  made  a  satisfactory  arrangement 
on  the  subject!  bf  colonial  trade  by  a  treaty,  the  Ame- 
rican people  could  discern  no  reason  for  the  continu- 
ance of  clamour.  When  she  offered  again  to  accede 
to  teitns  6n  this  subject,  as  favourable  as  our  govern- 
ihent  rieqiiired,  and  to  secure  us  against  the  abuse 
of  the  claim  of  impressment,  and  these  champions 
of  lieutral  rights  refused  to  our  commerce  the 
protection  of  a  treaty  beneficial  to  both  nations/ 
but  preferred  to  expose  it  to  all  the  embarrassments 
.  resulting  from  uncertain  and  unsteady  construe- 
tions  of  the  law  of  nations,  their  motives  became  at 
least  questionable — When  it  was  further  considered 
that  ^ose  who  pretended  to  the  most  zeal  to  extend 
Gomnierce  had  written  books  to  prove  that  we  ought  to 
abandon  the  ocean — that  those  who  were  for  maintain- 
ing  the  colonial  trade  without  limitation  at  all  hazards 
had  denounced  the  carrying  trade  as  a  mere  fungus,  an 
unnatural  shoot  whose  growth  we  were  not  bound  to 
assist— that  those  who  declaimed  with  most  pathos  on 
the  iiiipressment  of  seamen  had  refused  to  build  a  fri- 
gate to  save  them  from  Algerine  shivery— when  to 
all  this  was  added  a  system,  whose  tendency  was  di- 
rectly to  destroy  our  intercourse  with  England  and  wl- 


V-I 


■* 


105 


timately  to  drive  us  from  the  ocean  which  we  would 
not  voluntarily  abandon,  the  projects  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
were  no  longer  subjects  of  conjecture.  *rhey  were 
clearly  unveiled,  and  we  hold  it  incredible  that  any 
man  of  candour  and  reflection  can  hesitate  to  admit 
the  truth  of  our  third  charge,  that  his  ADiiiNis- 

TRATION  WAS  MARKED  BY  AN  UNDEVIATING 
PURSUIT    OF    A    SYSTEM    OF  MEASURES  HOSTILE  TO 

COMMERCE. — We  may  add,  that  the  course  of  his  suc< 
cessor,  as  far  as  it  is  understood,  discovers  a  persever. 
ing  adherence  to  the  policy  of  his  patron. 


IV. 
THE  NATIONAL  TREASURY  EMPTIED. 

Our  fourth  general  charge  against  the  administration 
is,  that  it  has  exhausted  the  treasury,  and  "  beggared 
our  exchequer."  The  policy  and  conduct  which  has 
terminated  in  this  unhappy  result,  we  shall  expose  as 
far  as  we  can  trace  it  and  from  what  we  state,  leave 
others  to  conjecture  what  is  concealed. 

The  former  prosperous  situation  of  our  revenue^ 
when  in  the  language  of  Mr.  JeffersOn  we  "  were  left 
free  in  a  degree  to  regulate  our  own  pursuit  of  industry 
and  improvement,"  the  present  deplorable  state  of  the 
national  treasury,  and  tne  serious  want  of  means  and 
supplies,  with  which  we  shall  soon  be  distressed,  are 
fully  and  fairly  stated  in  the  following  extract  from  the 
"REPORT  ON  OUR  FOREIGN  RELATIONS," 
made  by  a  committee  of  the  legislature  at  its  present 
session  and  accepted  by  both  houses. 

"  From  the  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  treasury 
it  is  apparent,  that  the  net  revenue  of  the  United  States 
during  the  year  1807,  was  -  -      S  16,000,059 

That  during  the  year   1808,  under  the 

first   operation  of  the  Embargo,  the 

same  revenue  was  only         -  -       1810,000,332 

14 


m 


Ut 


ia6 


That  during  the  year  1809,  under  the  fur- 
ther operation  of  the  same  system,  it 
was  reduced  to  -        -        .        86^00,000 

So  that  the  difference  of  the  amount  of  revenue  be- 
between  the  years  1807  and  1809  is  NINE  MIL- 
LIONS AND  AN  HALF  OF  DOLLARS— It  is 
also  stated  in  the  last  report  from  that  department,  that 
the  expenses  of  the  government  for  the  last  year,  ex- 
clusive of  payments  on  account  of  the  principal  of  the 
publick  debt,  have  exceeded  the  actual  receipts  into 
the  treasury  nearly  thirteen  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which  deficiency  has  been  paid  out  of  the  surplus  of 
preceding  years. 

**  It  is  further  stated,  that  the  expense  of  government 
upon  a  peace  establishment  for  the  year  1811,  will  be 
about  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  eight  millions  after 
that  year ;  and  that  a  loan  of  four  millions  has  already 
become  necessary.  In  the  report  of  the  same  depsut- 
ment  for  the  year  1806,  it  was  stated  that  after  defraying 
all  the  expenses  of  government,  an  annual  surplus  of 
five  and  an  half  millions  of  dollars  would  remain.  But 
according  to  the  last  statement  there  will  be  a  deficiency 
for  the  present  year  of  four  millions,  making  against  the 
United  States  an  annual  difference,  as  before,  of  mne 
millions  and  an  half." 

Such  is  the  state  in  which  we  are,  and  such  is  the 
melancholy  prospect  before  us— Every  one  can  decide, 
how  completely  they  satisfy  the  publick  expectations, 
raised  by  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  partizans  during  their 
struggle  for  power. 

No  one  can  forget  the  incessant  clamour  of  these 
friends  of  the  people  during  the  administrations  of 
Washington  and  his  immediate  successor,  against  the 
extravagance  of  the  government ; — that  the  officers  of 
state  and  their  dependants  were  fattening  on  high  sala- 
ries, and  instead  of  working  like  the  servants  of  the 
people  would  become  their  tyrants — that  the  patronage 
of  the  President  was  too  extensive  for  freedom,  and  the 
,  appropriation  for  the  civil  list  only  a  mode  of  making 


107 


the  publick  purse  the  means  of  private  corruption. 
Promises  of  reformation  were  made  as  the  counterpart 
of  accusation.  A  change  of  men  was  to  introduce  a 
change  of  measures.  Our  publick  officers  were  to  be- 
come as  simple  and  honest  and  poor  as  Phocion,  who 
carried  his  heart  in  his  hand  and  his  wardrobe  on  his 
back.  Economy  was  alone  to  work  wonders.  Taxes 
were  to  be  reduced.  Turnpikes,  and  canals,  and  col- 
leges and  manufacture  were  to  be  scattered  over  the 
country,  and  wealth  was  to  pour  in  upon  us  every  where, 
if  not  obstructed  by  **  too  much  regulation." 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprize  that  the  nation  was  de- 
luded by  this  delightful  representation,  that  the  old  tried 
servants  of  the  publick  were  dismissed,  and  that  we 
should  in  vain  hope  of  better  times,  trust  the  publick 
chest  to  men,  who  in  their  own  language  ^*  had  burst 
open  the  doors  of  publick  confidence/' 

Mr.  Jefferson  on  his  elevation  to  power  did  not  forget 
that  the  promises  and  professions  which  were  necessary 
to  acquire  office,  must  be  repeated  to  retain  it — Accord- 
ly  in  his  inaugural  address  he  promises  that  he  will  ob- 
serve "  economy  in  the  publick  expenses,  that  he 
should  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labour  the  bread  it 
has  earned."  In  his  first  message  he  again  assures  us 
of  his  intention  to  make  "  a  salutary  reductioh  in  our 
habitual  expences,"  and  informs  us  *'  of  his  suppres- 
sion of  unnecessary  offices  and  agencies,"  and  a  conse- 
quent dimunition  of  the  publick  expense.  And  iii 
proof  of  his  sincerity  he  proposed  a  repeal  of  taxes  at 
the  very  moment  he  informed  the  nation,  that  the 
revenue  would  be  considerably  lessened  by  th^  effect  of 
peace  in  Europe  on  our  trade,  and  that  our  expenses 
were  to  be  encreaed  by  a  war  with  Tripoli, 

Mr.  Jefferson  throughout  his  administration  adhered 
to  that  sort  of  language,  by  which  he  had  inspired  men 
with  the  vain  hopes  of  preserving  our  credit  without 
revenue,  and  raising  supplies  without  resources.  He 
well  knew  that  the  cabinet  whose  passions  or  blunders 
had  exhausted  the  surplus  fund,  and  daily  income  of  the 


106 


country  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  at  the  moment  of 
greatest  danger  left  it  destitute  of  the.  means  of  de. 
fence  could  not  survive  detection.    Hence,  m  his  an,. 
nual  reports  Mr.  Gallatin  always  reminds  us  of  the 
amount  of  debts  we  have  paid  and  also  tlie  surplus  rer 
venue  in  the  treasury— Hence  Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  last 
message  gravely  requested  Congress    **  to  make  some 
provision  for  the   application  of  the  surpluses  of  our 
revenue  in  the  improvement   of  roadsy  canals,    rivm 
and  education'^  !  !  !    at  this  moment  he  was  conscious 
that  under  his  administration  the  treasury  had.  been  so 
far  exhausted,  that  in  time  of  peace  we  should  be  oblig- 
ed to  borrow  money  to  pay  the  civil  list — But  to  avert 
or  delay  disgrace  he  still  persevered  in  his  attempt  to 
perpetuate  our  dangerous  delusion.    Instead  of  urging 
Congress  to  repair  the  waste  of  bur  finances  he  affected 
to  be  embarrassed  with  ♦*  accumulated  treasures,  which 
he  might  be  tempted  to  abuse ;"  and  wa^  gross  enough 
to  tax  the  ingenuity  of  Statesmen  not  to  raise  supplies 
which  were  wanted,  but  to  spend  money  which  we 
had  not,    Mr,  Randolph,  once  the  friend  and  champion, 
now  the  decided  opponent  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  though 
still  not  a  federalist,  indignantly  observes  on  this  dupli- 
city, that  **  this  man  died  politically  with   a  lie  inhk 
mouth,**    Those  may  censure  this  severity  who  can 
disprove  the  charge. 

We  proceed  to  state  briefly,  the  measures  and  policy 
by  which  our  treasury  has  been  emptied-— measures 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  promises  of  their  authors 
and  a  policy  entirely  subversive  of  our  best  interests. 

lst.—EXTBAVAGANCE  IN  THE  CIVIL  IJST. 

From  men  who  had  made  such  strong  promises  of 
economy,  we  had  a  right  to  expect  its  observance  in 
every  department  of  government.  And  as  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son*s  first  care  was  to  dismiss,  as  unnecessary,  some  of 
the  agents  of  the  old  of&cers,  and  to  discontinue  offices 
for  whiph  his  predecessors  had  found  employment,  it 

*  S«e  Mr.  J.'s  first  Message. 


was  certain 
to  be  reduc 
of  state  hac 
sive,  we  ha 
publick  ser 
portion,  tli 
their  predec 

But  the  f^ 
pectatations 
administrati 
its  parsimot 
itself  remar] 
.  During  tl 
ams,  the  an 
ing  to  an  av( 
During  eigl] 

Jefferson  i 
Difference  ii 


100 


was  certain  that  the  appropriation  for  the  civil  list  wa& 
to  be  reduced — Above  all  as  the  salaries  of  the  officers 
of  state  had  been  represented  as  exorbits^it  and  oppres- 
sive, we  had  a  right  to  expect  that  the  wage's  of  th^ 
publick  servants  would  be  diminished  in  the  same  pro- 
portion, that  their  public  spirit  exceeded  that  of 
their  predecessors. 

But  the  fact  is  that  neither  their  promises  nor  our  ex- 
pectatations  have  been  fulfilled..  On  the  contrary  the 
administration^  that  threatened  to  be  contemptible  for 
its  parsimony,  has  according  to  its  own  scale  rendered 
itself  remarkable  for  its  extravagance. 

During  the  administration  of  Washington  and  Ad- 
ams, the  annual  appropriation  for  the  civil  list,  accord- 
ing to  an  average  of  eight  years,  amounts  to  jS497,250 
During  eight  years  of  the  administration  of 

Jefferson  and  Madison,  annually  -  SI, 003,000 
DiiFerence  in  fev<5ur  of  the  former,  annually     8505,750 

Not  a  single  specifick  appropriation  for  the  support  of 
the  publick  department  is  as  low  at  the  present  as  dur- 
ing the  period  of  "  federal  domination."  The  prospect 
before  us  grows  still  more  alarming  as  Mr.  Gallatin  in 
the  very  report  in  which  he  displays  the  poverty  and 
beggary  of  the  treasury  computes  the  expenses  of  the 
civil  list  for  the  next  year  at  E  1,500,000  being  one 
million  more  than  the  average  amount  of  the  appropri- 
ation during  the  federal  administration.  :^,^ 
One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  economists  shewed 
that  they  considered  the  true  end  of  all  political  con- 
tests was  the  possession  of  the  publick  chest.  Instead 
of  proving  their  disinterested  zeal  for  publick  service, 
and  in  contempt  of  all  their  promises,  they  voted  them- 
selves the  same  salaries  which  cost  Uieir  predecessors 
their  places.  Mr,  Gallatin,  for  making  reports,  which 
Mr,  Giles  says,  seem  to  be  the  performance  merely  of 
his  clerk,  and  for  the  discharge  of  duties,  which  requir- 
ed nothing  but  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  common 
rules  of  arithmetick,  receives  five  thousand  dollars  an- 
nually,  while  Hamilton  received  but  thirty-five  hundred 


le 


no 


dollars  for  the  giving  a  form  and  spring  to  a  system, 
which  at  onoe  imparted  strength,  and  imtised  spirit  and 
hope  into  our  country,  and  if  undisturbed,  would  of  it. 
self  render  us  always  ^reat  and  happy. 

In  another  striking  mstance  **  these  exclusive  friends 
of  the  people"  shew'whftt  diiferent  meaning  they  assign 
to  the  word  economy,  when  enjoined  on  others,  and 
plt>mised  by  themselves.  There  was  no  subject  on 
which  more  popular  rant  was  wasted  than  the  appoint, 
ment  of  ministers  and  agents  at  foreign  courts,  fie. 
sides  their  objections  which  we  have  before  stated,* 
these  plain  republicans,  in  accordance  with  the  doc. 
trines  of  equality,  very  gravely  represented  the  estab. 
lishment  as  anti-repubhcan  ;  tnat  the  fashion  of  courts 
not  only  required  extravagant'  salaries  to  support  our 
ministers  in  a  style  suitable  to  their  rank,  but  inspired 
them  with  the  pride  of  aristocracy,  and  returned  them 
to  their  country  with  habits  and  impressions  hostile  to 
the  simplicity  of  republicanism.  In  proof  of  the  since, 
rity  of  meir  opposition,  they  even  voted  against  appro- 
.  priations  for  the  support  of  foreign  ministers  abroad  on 
publick  services,    nut  here  the  evidence  ends. 

During  the  administration  of  Washington  the  appro- 
priation for  defraying  the  expense  of  foreign  intercourse 
amounted  annually  to  240,000.  The  extraordinary 
expense  incurred  m  sending  out  Mr.  Munroe  in  the 
room  of  Mr.  Mbrrfa,  whose  recal  the  revolutionary 
butchers  of  France  requested,  and  also  in  the  mission 
of  Mi*.  Jay  to  England  was  specially  provided  for.  In 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams,  the  peculiar  situa- 
tion of  the  country,  and  a  sum,  probably  not  less  than 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  expended  in 
our  missions  to  France,  which  these  men  compelled 
him  disgracefully  to  repeat,  considerably  augmertted 
the  expenses  of  onr  foreign  intercourse. 

But  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  in  his  letter  to  a  citizen  of 
Berkly,  expresses  his  dread  of  the  patronage  of  the  ex- 
ecutive, because  "  it  enlisted  on  his  side  all  those  whom 


;.il.  .Ui.:... 


*  Seepage  18th. 


in 

he  could  interest  and  doomed  the  labouring  citizens  to 
toil  and  sweat  for  useless  pageantry,  "has  expended  more 
money  in  foreign  intercourse  than  either  of  his  prede- 
cessors. The  men  who  were  so  anxious  to  save  Wash- 
ington from  any.  temptation  to  corruption  by  limiting 
his  patronage,  and  who  allowed  him  but  240,000  for 
the  support  of  foreign  intercourse  with  all  the  mercantile 
nations  of  Europe,  require  for  themselves  double  the 
amount  to  pay  their  publick  and  private  agents,  to  truc- 
kle to  Bonaparte  and  beard  old  England.  Mr.  Short's 
unauthorized  expedition  to  Erfurth  probably  cos^  us 
18,000  dollars.    In  the  year  1804,  the 

sum  appropriated  was  .  .  .  ^  •  £1108,050 
In  1810,  the  demand  is  for      -     -     -     -  99,500 

which  with  the  acknpwledged  balance  of<  former  appro- 
priations, will  (as  has  been  alledgcd  on  the  floor  of 
Cpngress)  place  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  dollars 
more  at  the  disposal  of  the  executive  for  this  object, 
than  have  ever  before  been  granted. 

We  leave  others  to  make  suitable  reflections  on  these 
facts.  Our  censure,  our  distrust  might  be  attributed 
more  to  the  prejudice  of  party,  than  to  a  rational  belief 
that  those  who  used  a  thousand  arts  to  gain  the  publick 
chest  have  found  as  many  favourites  to  teed  on  it.  We 
would,  however,  state  a  single  fact,  which  we  leani  from 
a  comparison  of  the  appropriations  of  the  civil  list  since 
the  establishment  of  the  government,  that,  if  Mr.  JeflTer- 
sou  had  been  only  as  economical  as  his  predecessors  and 
limited  his  annual  expenditures  to  the  sum  prescribed 
to  them,  he  would  have  left  us  a  surplus  revenue  of 
FOUR  MILLIONS,  which  wc  are  now  compelled  ?q  ^4>rv 
row  for  the  support  of  government.  , .  ,^ 

While  upon  this  subject,  we  will  again  remind  our 
readers  of  the  case  of  the  Berceau,  and  the  shameful 
report  of  tlieAttorney-General  in  favour  of  Beaumarliais^ 
claim,*  which  we  have  before  considered.  When  an 
administration  is  so  ready  to  listen  to  the  demands  of  a 
foreign  nation,  will  it  be  deaf  to  the  loud  calls  of  its 
dependants  at  home  ? — This  leads  us  to  consider, 


M. 


m 


.:?! 

r 


^1- 


Page  56. 


112 


2.-.THE  MONEY  SQUANDERED  BY  PUBUCK  OFnCERS  OP  THK 
PRESENT  ADMINISTRATION. 

Mr.  Jefferson  on  entering  into  office,  found  it  veiy 
convenient  to  identify  the  publick  interest  with  the  re- 
moval  of  his  opponents  from  places  of  trust  ai^d  profit, 
and  the  transfer  of  their  offices  to  his  adherents.  The 
kind  tone  in  which  we  were  told,  "  that  we  were  all 
federalists,  all  republicans,"  was  soon  followed  by  a 
grating  complaint,  that  he  could  not  find  vacant  offices 
K)r  his  partizans — that  none  of  the  federal  incumbents 
would  resign,  and  that  few  would  die.  As  we  have 
before  observed,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  not  principles  or 
feelings  to  resist  the  cravings  of  his  minions,  or  the 
demands  of  party — and  when  offices  were  to  be  the 
rewards  solelj^  of  political  fidelity,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
candidates  were  not  required  to  be  "  capable  or  hon- 
est." When  corruption  is  the  price  of  place,  it  is  a 
n-oss  absurdity  to  require  integrity  in  the  discharge  of 
Its  duties. 

lafonsidering  this  subject  it  affords  no  triumph  to 
our  feelings,  but  a  miserable  presage  of  our  fortunes, 
that  among  the  heads  of  a  party,  who  seem  destined  to 
govern  our  country,  we  should  find  so  many  instances, 
of  the  application  of  publick  money  to  private  use — A 
Secretary  of  State,  an  Attorney-General,  a  Collector  of 
our  first  seaport,  and  a  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives, are  on  the  list  of  defaulters — The  number  of 
petty  peculators  is  also  an  evidence  of  general  corrup- 
tion in  the  servants  of  the  government — The  history  of 
theirj&?7/fl^e  fills  a  volume — We  have  almost  learned 
to  disregard  it,  because  it  is  so  common  ;  and  we  talk 
of  Brown,  the  collector  of  New-Orleans,  who  has  ab- 
sconded with  at  least  21100,000  ;  and  Clark,  the  collec- 
tor of  Wells,  who  has  pocketed  above  S  30,000,  only 
because  they  are  the  last  instances  that  have  occurred, 
and  not  because  they  are  the  most  attrocious.  In  a 
report  of  Mr.  Duval,  the  comptroller  of  the  treasury, 
we  find  Mr.  Jefferson's  officers  delinquent  to  the  amount 
of  half  a  million  although  the  defalcations  by  the  last 
three  years  are  yet  concealed  fropi  the  publick  eye. 


y 


-   A  late  pubtieatioii  ascribed  to  a  perton  in  the  coQi». 
dence  of  the  administration,  is  calculated  to  excite  more 
serious  alarms*  ■   If  U  does  not  charge  Mr.  Gallatin 
with  corruptioo,  it  at  least  .insinuates  that  it  may  be 
proved  against  him.    This  writer  observes—**  The 
sudden  growth  of  his  (Mr.  GaUatin^s)  orivate  fortune 
is  unfavourable  to  the  supposition  that  he  is  the  most 
disinterested  of  ministers.    When  a  Secretary-  of  the 
Treasury,  from  a  yearly  salary  of  four  or  five  thousandi 
amasses  in  the  short  compass  of  eight  yeara,  the  enor- 
mous  fortune  of  two  hundred  ihouaand  doihrSf  we  are 
authorised  to  inquire  how  he  has<  effected  it  ?   If  this 
were  a  government  of  England,  «nd  Mr.  Gallatin  t 
^rd  Melville,   there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  ac« 
edUnting  for  the  circumstance  ;  but  it  would  be  too 
hasty  a  determination  to  decide  without  further  inves- 
tigation, that' Mr.  Gallatin  had  made  use  of  the  oppor- 
tirtiities;  which  his  statioH  affords,  to  speculate  in  the 
funds  ibr  his  individual  benefit;   or,  that  he  availed 
himself  of*  the  same  opportunities,  to  become  the  pro- 
prietor of  lands,  which  have  been  sacrificed  by  the 
artful  representations  of  the  man  who  purchased  from 
the  publick."—-**  There  are  curious  rumout^  abroad, 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  means^to  resign  the 
post  he  occupies.     Depend  upon  it  that  he  never  will 
leave  the  cabmet,  whilst  there  is  the  charter  of  a  na- 
tional bank  to  be  sold."  — 

Mr.  Gardinier  has  made  a  motion  foran  «r2<7wer^into 
the  management  and  state  of  the  treasury,  wnich  was 
negatived  by  a  great  majority.  The  federalists  have 
different  notions  of  hononr.  In  answer  to  the  first  ma- 
licious insinuation  of  Mr.  Giles  and  Mr.  Venable,  Mr, 
Hamilton:  demanded  of  Congress  an  official  investiga- 
tion  of  his  management  of  the  treasury ;  and  t^  men 
who  impeached  his  integrity,  reported  after  a  most 
strict  scrutiny  of  his  official  conduct,  that  they  were 
"satisfied  that  no  monies  of  the  Ufiited  States,  whether, 
before  or  after  they  have  passed  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer,  have  ever  been  directlv  or  indirectiv  used 
IS 


lU 

for^  or  applied  to  any  purposes,  but  those  of  the  gov. 
eminent.**    Let. us  now  examine 

GiNiRAL  Wilkinson's  account,  as  alhwed  and 
tanctioned  by  the  President, 

It  is  in  vain,  after  reading  this  document^  to  attempt 
to  calculate  how  much  mone^  has  been  lavished  on  the 
favourites  of  the  administration,  as  we  are  not  permit- 
ted to  pry  into  the  files,  which  contain  the  vouchers. 

We  have  before  stated  that  the  sum  of  856,000 
was  bestowed  on  Gen.  Wilkinson,  as  the  price  of  his 
agency  in  the  attacks  on  the  constitution  or  oiir  coun- 
try and  the  liberties  of  our  citizens.  This  money  has 
been  worse  than  squandered.  Deduct  the  amount  of 
his  pay  from  the  gross  sum  he  has  received,  and  vh 
find  a  balance  of  S40,000  left  in  his  hands,  as  the  re« 
ward  of  ille^  violence  and  military  proscriptions. 

The  account  of  Gen.  Wilkinson  could  have  been 
allowed  by  Mr.  Jefierson  only  from  the  fear  of  his  dis- 
closing conduct  more  profligate  than  his  own.  The 
impu£nt  items  of  this  account  are  the  evidence  of  the 
most  abominable  prodig^ity,  and  its  allowance  a  daring 
violation  of  the  laws  which  limited  his  pay  for  the 
samip  time  at  816,500. 

By  the  aid  of  his  attorney- general,  C.  Rodney,  Mr. 
Jefferson  found  the  means  to  evade  the  statute,  by  as- 
signing to  his  favourite  variety  (A  offices,  civi|  as  well 
as  military.  Of  the  sum  of  856,000,  Gen.  W.  was 
allowed  86,619  for  the  expenses  of  his  table  from  De- 
cembcr  1803,  to  April  1804 — Such  profusion  has 
hardly  any  parallel  in  history.-— and  this  money  was 
paid  by  order  of  the  same  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  caused 
courts  to  be  abolished,  to  save  the  salary  of  the  Judges, 
and  refused  even  a  pittance  to  ransom  our  citizena^from 
foreign  dungeons.  i' > 

From  the  dtkqsidations  of  the  treasury  which  have 
come  to  lights  even  while  it  is  under  the  control  of 
those  who  endeavour  to  conceal  them,  we  may  judge 
what  scenes  will  be  displayed,  to  the  sMCcessprs  of  the 
present  administration. 


115 

S^MONSr  WAflTKD  IN  AB8UBD  ARMAMBNTS. 

It  will,  perhaps,  appear  sineular,  that  those  who  have 
censured  tne  giovemment  forleavingf  the  country  whol- 
ly destitute  of  defence,  should  charge  them  with  waste 
/money  in  publick  armaments.  But  the  mere  appropri- 
ation and  application  of  money  to  defence,  does  not  en- 
title  an  administration  to  any  credit,  if  the  country  is 
still  left  unprotected. 

What  then  has  our  government  done  for  the  protec- 
tion of  our  country  ? 

1st.  As  to  Fortifications,  About  one  million  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been  appropriated  for 
the  4cftuice  of  our  sea  coast  form  Maine  to  Georgia. 
We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  precisely  what  de- 
gree of  security  has  been  afforded  us  by  the  eicpendi- 
ture  of  this  sum.  We  do  know,  however,  that  our  sea 
cofist  is  yet  in  a  very  defenceless  state,  and  from  what 
we  have  se^n  of  folly  and  ignorance,  not  to  say  want  of 
principle,  exhibited  in  many  of  the  youthful  agents,  we 
may  be  excused  for  presuming  that  a  considerable  |>art 
of  the  mon^y  has  been  wasted. 

2.  The  army, — -We  have  before  observed  ou  the 
military  establishment  of  this  administration  to  shew 
th^  insincerity  of  their  clamour  against  the  petty  force 
raised  by  the  federalists  which  by  way  of  opprobriMiu 
the  opposition  denominated  "iht  standing  army. ^^^^^  , . 

They  have  indeed  in  a  wise  contempt  of  their  owii 
maxims  kept  up  a  force  sufficient  to  preserve  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  army^  and  formerly  strong  enough  to 
enforce  their  arbitrary  mandates,  where  they  were  not 
assured  of  the  volunteer  services  of  their  sanguinary 
partizans.. 

This  army  has  not  merely  been  disgraced  by  the  cha- 
racter of^ts  commander,  but  was  unfortunately  con- 
fided to  his  discretionary  orders.  From  his  treachery 
or  negligence  their  encampment  was  madly  chosen  in 
feus  and  marshes,  and  the  consequence  has  been  a 
greater  mortality  than  any  body  of  troops  ever  expe^ 


•?■■; 


'<j  Utt^  at- 


■;:«  satin '•- 


116 

tienced  in  the  mdst  active  campaipt*  We  may  there- 
fore justly  condemn  the  administration  for  a  greater 
offence  than  the  waste  of  publick  money.  But  still 
amidst  this  melanchoUy  scene  of  desolationlt  is  not  to 
be  forgotten  that  in  the  course  of  two  years,  more  than 
FOUR  MiLtiONS  of  moncy  has  been  applied  to  the  mi- 
litary establishment,  and  that  the  only  force  on  which 
we  relied  for  the  submission  of  a  province,  ripe  for  re- 
bellion, has  been  almost  annihilated 

3d.  Naval  equipments. — We  have  before  stated  ex- 
plicitly our  opinion  of  Mr.  Jeffersen's  decided  hostili- 
ty io  a  navy,  and  offered  for  the  consideration  of  others 
the  early  opposition  of  bis  party  to  every  kind  of  ma- 
rine armament.     But  when  these  nien  acquired  power 
they  felt  that  good  faith  required,  that  some  defence 
should  in  appearance  be  prepared  for  commerce,  whose 
protection  was  with  the  Eastern  States  the  primary  and 
ultimate  object  of  union.     To  afford  however  any 
effectual  aia  was  inconsistent  with  their  policy  and 
jealousy — Hence  we  were  prepared  to  see  appropria- 
tions large  enough  to  stifle  our  complaints,  but  applied 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  mock  our  expectation.    The 
progress  of  things    has   fully  justified  our  fears.— 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  Jirst  messege  informed  us  '*  that 
materials  were  providing  for  seventy-four  gun  ships." 
These  were  most  shamefully  wasted — In  his  last  mes- 
sage, he  informs  us  that  according  to  law  he  had  built 
and  equipped  one  hundred  and  three  gunboats  ! !  ! 
V    Of  the  expences  of  gunboats. — Perhaps  a  more 
cruel  mockery  than  the  equipment  of  a  squadron  of 
gunboats  never  was  practised  on  a  nation  with  an  ex- 
tensive sea  coast,  and  an  enterprising  and  rich  com- 
merce.    It  is  an  admission  of  the  necessity  of  defence, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  most  tantalizing  denial  of  it. 
But  this  is  not  the  worst  of  this  policy.     The  extrava- 
gance of  this  pitiful  system  of  a  weak  executive  is  un- 
equalled.    No  measure  of  his  administration  bad  as  it 
was  combines  more  ignorance  or  imbecillity. 

*See  notes  at  the  end  of  the  work. 


117 

A  gentleman  \yc11  acquainted  with  the  naval  arma- 
ments of  Europe  ha»m&de  a  comparison  between  the 
service  and  ex  pence  of  our  fleet  of  gunboats  and  an 
English  fleet.  It  is  worthy  the  consideration  of  those 
who  confided  tl)€  protection  of  every  thing  dear  to 
us  io  men  of  (he  theoretick  character  of  Mr.  Jeflerson. 
Two  hundred  gunboats,  carry  -  -  -  200  guns. 
Requires  men  and  petty  officers  9394 
Commission  oflicers  G06 

in  conformity  to  the  original  plan  10,000  men. 

Fifteen  English  80  gun  ships  carry  1200  guns 

Require  seamen  and  petty  officers     9932 
Commission  officers      mw  78  10^010  men 

It  appears  then  that  the  English  nation  keeps. 1200 
guns  afloat  in  the  strongest  ships,  which  naval  arma- 
ments admit  of  at  the  same  ex  pence  of  money  and  labor, 
that  we  keep  two  hundred  guns  mounted  on  patent 
carriages  in  mere  fresh  water  pinnaces,  of  such  con- 
itruction  that  an  eighty  gun  ship  in  a  breeze  would 
run  down  the  whole  ilotilla  with  the  greatest  case. 

But  in  estimating  the  folly  and  extravagance  of  this 
armament,  we  may  rely  on  higher  auth(»rity.  As  Mr. 
Madhon  could  spare  no  cash  from  our  beggared  ex- 
chequer on  these  contemptible  fooleries,  by  which  his 
predecessor  had  exhausted  the  treasury,  Mr.  Hamilton 
the  secretary  of  the  navy  was  directed  to  make  a 
full  exposition  of  the  absurdity  of  this  ridiculous  sys- 
tem of  defence. 

Mr.  Hamilton  in  his  report  dated  June  9,  180^ 
states,  that  the  frigate  President  of  56  guns 

cost -----    S  221,000 

56  gunboats  mounting  56  guns  might 

be  built  for S  496,000     ^ 

Annual  expencc  of  a  frigate  of  56  guns  B  120,000  ,.;^^ 
Annual  ex  pence  of  56  gunboats  with  ,■■,*'* 

56  guns      -    - S  655,200 

Making  a  balance  in  favour  of  the  frigate  ^  ,..- 

and  against  the  gunboats      .    .    .  S  535^200 


'  ^>..i 


ii:;'it.; 


lit 


A  gun  ID  a  frigate  costs  annually        -      S  dJ42    ' 
A  gun  in  a  gunboat  costs    -    -    -    -     g  11,700 
The  complement  of  men  of  a  frigate  of 

56  guns    *-     --     --     ----     420  men 

Complement  of  56  gunboats    ....    2520  men 

2530  men  in  frigates  can  fight    ...        336  gung 

It  is  impossible  by  any  language  or  illustration  to 
make  the  extravagance  of  the  gunboat  system  more 
palpable,  except  by  adding  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's message — "  that  this  species  of  naval  armament 
can  have  little  effect  towards  protecting  our  commerce 
in  the  open  seas,  even  upon  our  own  coasts.*' 
.^  The  plan  of  a  Dry  Dock  was  as  extravagant  as  the 
gun-boats  are  ridiculous.  It  is  mentioned  here  merely 
as  another  proof  of  the  disposition  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to 
squander  the  sums  intended  to  secure  a  naval  defence  & 
to  satisfy  the  people,  that  no  economy  was  enjoined  in 
the  expenditure  of  publick  money,  however  opposed 
the  administration  might  be  to  its  appropriation. 

We  might  add  here  a  variety  of  mstances  of  actual 
and  contemplated  expense,  wholly  inconsistent  with 
sound  economy.  We  might  display  in  detail  the  par., 
tial  policy  betrayed  in  the  appropriation  of  public  mon- 
ey. We  might  contrast  the  extravagance  of  govern- 
ment on  our  southern  frontier,  with  its  parsimony  on 
the  sea-coast.  We  might,  in  fine,  multiply  proofs, 
not  merely  of  waste  of  revenue,  but  of  a  sacrifice  of  re- 
sources, as  the  sale  of  bank-stock,  western  lands,  &c. 
But  this  is  unnecessary.  Those  who  have  read  our 
statement  of  the  circumstances  and  expenses  attending 
the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  will  examme  the  evidence 
of  a  ruinous  misapplication,  if  not  corrupt  profusion 
of  public  money,  which  we  have  offered  under  this  head, 
cannot  have  confidence  in  the  discretion  or  integrity  of 
the  administration. 

4.  The  annihilation  of  revenue  "^y  the  destruc- 
tion OF  commerce. 
While  waste  and  prodigality  in  every  department 
took  all  the  public  money  out  of  the  tre  asury,  the  em- 


119 


bargo  most  seriously  diminished  its  receipts.  If  Mft 
did  not  succeed  in  this  kind  of  warfare,  ruin  was  the 
certain  result.  Mr.  Jefferson  saw  this ;  but  as  his  only 
resource  was  the  confidence  of  his  partizans  in  his 
scheme,  he  afforded  them  the  strongestproof  of  hisow/i, 
by  a  profuse  use  of  the  public  money.  His  failure 
has  fulfilled  our  predictions,  and  while  we  feel  its  con^ 
sequence  in  the  beggary  of  the  treasury,  it  is  well  to 
consider  the  extent  of  our  loss,  arising  from  hb  folly 
or  intrigues. 

From  inspection  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  report  it  appears 
that  in  1803,  when  our  commerce  was  reduced  to  55 
millions  of  dollars,  that  our  revenue  amounted  to  the  sum 
of  10,479,417  dollars.  According  to  another  report  of 
Mr.  Gallatin,  in  1807,  notwithstanding  the  British  or- 
ders in  council,  we  might  have  exported  to  free  ports, 
foreign  and  domestic  goods,  to  the  amount  of  69,077,878 
dollars,  and  from  the  proceeds  have  collected  an  im- 
post, probably  to  the  amount  of  12,000,000  dollars. 
Our  exports  to  England  alone  in  1807  amounted  to 
more  than  our  exports  to  all  the  world  in  1803,  and 
would  have  yielded  to  an  economical  administration,  a 
revenue  sufficient  for  the  support  ofgovernment.  From 
these  calculations  it  is  evident,  that  we  have  sacrificed 
above  16  millions  on  the  maintenance  of  a  disastrous 
policy,  which  annihilated  a  commerce,  from  which  we 
should  have  derived  a  revenue  equal  to  this  amount. 

But  unfortunately,  the  embargo  not  only  prevented 
any  income,  but  required  expense  for  its  maintenance. 
Its  oppressive  provisions  naturally  excited  resistance, 
and  the  gun-boats,  which  no  one  thought  capable  of  af- 
fording protection,  were  called  into  action  to  enforce 
submission.  To  the  cost  of  military  exertion  was  ad- 
ded the  drain'of  legal  processes.  Thousands  of  prose- 
cutions have  vexed  our  citizens,  and  courts  and  ju- 
ries have  discovered  so  little  inclination  to  second 
the  requisitions  of  the  executive,  that  while  probably 
some  hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended, 
scarcely    a   penalty   has    been     recovered.       Thus 


120 


this  monstrous  systetn  of  policy,  which  began  with 
extinguishing  our  revenue,  has  ended  with  exhausting 
our  treasury. 

In  concluding  our  remarks  on  this  last  charge  against 
government,  of  haxnng  emptied  our  national  treasury 
by  their  negligence^  extravagance^  and  intrigue,  we 
earnestly  call  upon  all  to  give  this  important  subject  iu 
due  consideration. 

We  all  recollect  that  Mr.  Jefferson  assumed  the  di. 
rection  of  our  national  affairs,  when  he  acknowledged 
us  to  be  "in the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment ;" 
and  that  while  he  permitted  the  unaided  operation  of 
the  system  of  his  predecessors,  our  commerce  flourish- 
ed with  its  usual  unexampled  success,  and  yielded  a 
revenue,  which  not  only  discharged  our  current  ex. 
penses,  but  left  us  annually  a  surplus  of  millions  to 
meet  any  emergency. 

Let  us  suppose  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  instead  of  using 
commerce  as  an  engine  of  war  and  intrigue,  had  con. 
suited  its  interests  in  honest  negotiation  with  England, 
and  manly  resentment  against  the  insults  and  on  rages 
of  France  ; — that  instead  of  annihilating  trade  and  re- 
pressing enterprize,  under  the  pretence  **  of  exercising 
our  restrictive  energies,"  he  had  left  us  free  to  regulate 
our  own  pursuit  of  interest  and  improvement  ? — that 
instead  of  wasting  millions  in  the  purchase,  survey, 
and  defence  of  a  wilderness,  in  absurd  armaments,  and 
on  corrupt  and  peculating  agents  in  every  department 
of  government,  our  national  revenue  had  been  honest- 
ly applied  to  the  building  of  an  efficient  navy,  and 
erecting  fortifications  equal  to  our  protection  and  due 
to  the  importance  of  our  seaports ;  what  a  contrast 
should  we  have  presented  to  our  present  state  of  dis- 
grace and  beggary  ! — In  the  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
we  should  then  have  exhibited  to  the  world,  "  a  rising 
nation,  spread  over  a  wide  and  fruitful  land,  traversing 
all  the  seas  with  the  productions  of  its  industry,  en- 
gaged in  commerce  with  nations,  who,"  conscious  of 
its  "  power,"  would  regard  its  "  rights,  and  advancing 


i^pi/dly  to  destinies  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal  eye" — 
but  mo^t  unfortunately  the  protection  of'"  the  honour, 
the  happiness,  the  hopes  of  our  beloved  country,"  ^va? 
cQm9>itted  to  the  counsels  of  a  i^an,  who  "  shrunl^ 
from  the  cpntemplation,"  ai?d  has  approved  himself 
ijrbolly  |^adeq^ate  "  to  tl>e  magnitude  of  the  underr 
taking."* 


V. 

VIOLATION  4ND  CONTEMPT  OF  THE 

COJYStTTUtlON  OF  THE  U.  STATES. 

When  a  people  have  deliberately  adopted  a  constitu^ 
tion,  and  sworn  to;  support  it,  innovation  and  contempt 
(^it,  invite  cabal,  fr^ud,  and  force,  and  portend  a  change 
of  government. 

This  char^  will  be  supported  by  a  selection  of  facts, 
#fiich  can  be  most  clearly  prbved ;  and  by  inferences 
from  thtm»  wMch  ought  to  satisfy  ev^ry  man  who  is 
sBitably  jealous  of  thos^  ;^ 

CaEATlNG  VACANCIES,  AND  FILLING  THEM  UP  JN  THE  SECES9' 

OF   THE  SENATE.       • 

By  th^  constitution  of  the  U.  States  it  is  provided,  that 
the  President  should  have  power  t6  ^H  ail  vacancies 
which  might  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  senate. 
It  was  never  deemed  possible  that  a  President  could 
construe^  this  to  mean,  that  he  could  rrea^^  the  vacancy 
and  then  Iill  it.  For  such  a  construction  would  com- 
pletely defeat  the  negative  of  the  senate.  That  such 
was  tn^  intepr6tation  of  all  parties  at  the  time,  we  prove 
by  reference  to  the  opinions  of  several  Virginians.-— 
"  tjow,  says  ope  ofthem,  are  vacancies  to  happen  ?  Is  it 
not  by  de^th ^qr  resignation  ?  Does  the  constitution  con- 
teii^plate  any  ptfier  cause  of  vacancy  ?  Can  the  President 
create  the  vacancy  by  removal  ?  Afe  the  words  rrw^^ 

VfJ^  ^'  Mr.  J.*>  Inaugural  Spe^h, 

',      16'  ■    '- *'    •-•^'■- •-  .■ 


IK 


aod  ^i/i^;t  .9ji;];yoiQiinou8  V*  ^r,  Jackson,  of  VirgjijQM, 
in  k  speech  lipqh  tEe  bi^,  giving  th^  President  pow^ 
of  rem<M^,  Ws,  "1  shall  agree  that  the  President  Im 
thi^' power  of  removal  hvLtnothinff  more.    Upon  this 

Srificible  I  would  give  him  the  power  of  suspension 
tiring  the  recess  of  the  senate.  This  would  not  ex. 
pose  tne  government  to  the  abuses  which  we  (lave  to 
(|cead,  from  the  wanton  ^d  uncontrolled  removal  of 
officers  at  pleasure.'*  Mr.  Madison  too,  in  his  speech 
inCpngress,  in  1769,  says,  "What  motjiye  can  a  Pres- 
ident have  for  displacing  a  worthy  man?  It  must  be  in 
order  to  fill  his  place  with  vai  unworthy  creature  of  his 
Ofwn,  Can  he  accomplish  this  end?  Nq—he  canplace 
no  man.  in  the  vacsincy  whom  the  ir^tafie  shall  not  ap- 
prov^e  ;  and  if^hc;  cannot  fill  the^  y^pancjr-  with  the  man 
he  might  chuse,  he  wo^ljjl  hay9/}f^tj[(?  Inducement  to 

■m^c th^^re^a/.';;^ ^;„;.j,,  Q..,,^^^::^ ;     .^^] 

Such  were  the  cotemporanepus  e^po^i^tions,  of  h^gh 
authority,  as  to  this  clause  b^  the  cpnstitut^o^^^^ 
shew  that  the  President  could  xijtstcrea^^  a  yacancy  and 
fill  it  without  the  coxisent  of  the  senate.     Such  was  the 
pndeptanding  f^)d^ractic^.(^;^)^o|h||he  fe|d^  admin. 

But  from  the  mon>ent  pf  th^acp^ssion  of  the  present 
party^tfpt.pfjijy^l'^  ^^y  l^ye  proceeded  in,  Innumerable  in- 
^taw?^s.to\p-<f^|5<?  Tfapanpii?^  byrempyals^.ipd  jtp  ^lltlicm 
during  ^e^c^s  of  the  ^^tp.,^i,^.^^ 

c<7ih$  only  proyisipn  in  the  constitution  Vnich  iits  ene- 
mies ^qpjprPMcd,  the, only  pop  ^fhich  t^ey  did. noi;  object 
to,  was  ^t  by^  which«^he,c]^o|ice  pf,  th|e  Prcsideni^,  was 
r^g^ia^,  ;jSpn»f?  of  the  y^jy.m^^whp,^,  now  in 
pQ\y{er,  ^ijidj  ^yjio  .were  at  the  ,time  ortf^e.^dpptlon^of  the 
cpn^lHtion  t  ail  :^  ^antif^deralists,  ai^initted  that  they 
had  no  amendment  to  proppse  on  tit^  snbject.  '  And 
yet  this  6las|  pf;,^ifj,  witl^^^  th^  igjurjji.^pipesidential 


IKS' 


^^Wmvae  the  elecUon  of  Mr.  JefisfMm^defllils^cfd 
that  provisibti.  When  t{)e  struggle  occoi^  in  the 
house  of  representatives  between  JeHerspn  and  Biinri/ 
and  whieh'  ended  in  the  election  of  |effer90|i,  |t  was  re- 
vived that  he  should  never  be  again  in  like  jec^ardy: 
It  is  Well  knoWn,  that  many  persons  who  odher^  to 
him,  were  appointed  to  officers  of  honour  and  pt()fit  s4^ 
soon  as  he  came  into  power,  and  among  the  rest,  thfe^ 
xrtak  and  contemptible  governor  Claiborne.  It  was 
determined  that  the  candi&tes  should  be  designa,tedf{pr 
the  respective  offices^  By  this  democratick  measure 
one  of  tne  greatest  securities  against  popular  turbulence 
was  taken  away,  and  the  constitutibn  so  amendedyZ!$ 
that  its  most  excellent  feature  was  struck  out ;  theforeKr 
sight  and  wisdoni  of  Washington  and  hi^  ft^Uow  patri* 
ots  defeated ;  k  high  way  opened  to  intrigues  and  ca- 
bal ;  and  the  duration  of  the  constitution.  rendcKd  jCX* 
trtmely  precarious.  ^i^i^^  >m  :jri  ?^  ilBi^e 


.-JiU  UJ  Bli 


PROOF'S.     ■  •S^<'3ifViAau 
DB8al;cTioif,o»  THE  JUDicixiitl''^' j*-'*^'^^-'^ 

The  kst  federal  administration  perceiving  that^  ihil 
government  was  about  to  fall  into  the  hands,  of  no^  ^ho 
had  not  manifested  a  dlspb^i^on  to  respect  the^^Oiistitu- 
tion,  or  ena(ct  ^wft  in  :^<mi0tmx^  (o  it,  esWliiAied  aai 
their  last  and  befit  eflfort  lor  the  wplfere  6f  theitjcbutitrj^ 
a  judiciary  system,  whit^  received  the  hearty  appro*- 
bation  of  every  good  and  hp^e^t  man.  It  was  hoped 
that  a  barrier  was  thus  erected  against  the  encroach-^, 
ments  which  wduld  be  attempted. 

The  judges  who  were  nominated,  appointed,  com- 
missioned, J^ofti,  and,  Who  were  in  the  actual  enjoy- 
ment of  their;offices,  Were  men  eminently  qu^fied  for 


during  good  behaviour ;"  and,  that  "  their  compensa- 
tion shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  continuance  iii 
♦fficei*'    These  judges  had  been  Icgafly  and  constitu-i 


m 

tionatlji^  drtKM  i  uhd  they  feUed  on  these  provteidii»| 
they  Ittft  other  parftultftini  life^  and  telinquished  ail  o^ 
ooiitiec^kini  Wil^the  pubUck.  Yet  these  democratidc 
reformiSFSv  ocMIld  liei  nothings  in  the  constitutbn  whieh 
forbade  the  ddstruction  of  ihis  svBtem.  It  was  eriimgh 
for  th<^  ttiit  iX  was  the  W0rk  of  federalists.  They  m 
p^aledthe  law  (estabfishing  that  system.  The  com  mils; 
sibhs  of  the  judges  they  could  not  take  away,  but  they 
did  ahnihitoite  the  courts,  and  transfer  its  jurisdiction  to 
bthcir  tributials.  Th^re  can  be  no  difTerence  between  die. 
stroying  the  courts  in  which  judges  duly  commissioned 
officiate,  and  taki|^  fi'om  tliem  their  commissions  and 
^dmp^WsaliOn.  This  tiieasure  was  a  direet  violation  of 
the  cOtistitUtidti. 


•^''H; 


PROOF  ♦. 


?i 


^TTACK  ON  THK  JVDOKS  OF  TkE  8VPBEME  COVHT  Of  tlli 

VNITED  STATES. 


- .  This  revengeful,  rancpurqus  ^irit  of  democracy  was 
hot  sutisfied  by  this  sacriflde.'  The  judges  of  the  su- 
preme pourt.  wfef^  kssailed;^'Sifd  it  waisr  fondly  hoped 
that  iifiij^edK:hiiients  tnight  reiffovel^the  men  vvm  would 
r^ist  m^  ebsdcutibn  ^  kws  Itiade  in  hostility  to  the 
constSttiitidh'.'J^lfetisOhai^hl^iGllO^  hoped  to  pike 
dri  t^e^bisncft/Tiiien  ^Ko  WSdia^eonsidettih^  judicial  de- 
partmenf  subservient  to  the  legislative.  If  Ms  could  have 
be'iiii  eff(pcted|  there  #6Uld  hive  been  ndthing  to  choose 
between  the  nafidhkl  convaiticih  of  Frai^c^  and  the  gov. 
crmttcht  of  trc  United  States.  Jud^  Chase,  a  pktHot 
of  the  revolution,  a  man  of  long  tried  honesty  and  ttbil- 
ity,  was  first  Jtttackedl  fife  W^s  impeached  befcfe  the 
senate,  for  malconduct  in  th^tHafof  Fries, for  treason; 
and  in  the  trial  of  the  infdnibUS  Gallender, '  for  a  misde- 
meanour. This  Fries  every  body  kriows^  wias  Ckariy 
proved  j^nd  found  to  be  guilty  on  the  law  knd  the  ievi- 
dence.  -  He  ^as  pardoned  by  President  Adsims  ^  »h  act 
which,  astonished  his  political  friends.  Judge  Cha^e 
was  most  honourably  acquitted  by  the  sehMe,  Who  had 
every  disposition  to  nave  sa<crili(Sed  hiim.     The  second 


JA5 

|tloiind  of  impeaotim^nt  ym  cqutlly  uflt^p0«|f$fiil*  Th^ 
ppowcutors  coufd  not  arrive  at  the  lony  paired  f^%r 
ititt  of  sacrificing  a  }ttdge,  and  a  revo|iitioqaiy  |)atrk>t, 
afedeiaUst,  for  living 4»rdered  James  Thonip>iHin  CaW 
lender  to.  be  fined  and  impriaoned  apcoi^g  tio  ]|iW»— ^ 
Why  should  they  desire  this  ?  Because  CaUenderV^ 
tlie  friend  of  Jefierson ;  and  had  greatly  contributed  to 
destroy  faith  in  federalists,  and  to  acquire  it  for  demo- 
crats. If  this  attempvhad  succeeded  no  diAculty 
would  ha/ve  been  found  in  removing  the  other  judged/ 
This  efibrt  cost  judge  Chase  a  sum  equal  to  a  year's 
ttlaiy  i  and  the  United  States,  probably  20,000  doHs,  I , 
.  To  this  prominent  instance  pf  hostility  to  the  judiciar}f 
may  be  added  the  extraordinary  report  drawn  up  by  Mr* 
J.  Q.  Adams  (then  senator,  and  now  employed  on  a 
mysterious  mission  to  NapdeoK's  Russian  court)  in  the 
case  of  John  Smith,  also  a  member  of  the  senate,  in 
which  hci  endeavours  to  bring  the  supreine  court  of  the 
United  States  intbtcontempt,*  and  Jto  diminish  the  re- 
spect for  that  adhiicable  system  6f  jurisprudence  adapts 
ed  fi)r  the  prbtection  of  innocente  and  the  s^ety  of  the 
rights  of  the  people. 

PROOFS. 

tl6VA.Tt<iH  lot  ]!rH^  aXOBT  TO  THS  -waiT   OV  HABSAt  COKPyS  IN 
;  VACT,  AlfDi  A^.  ATTEMPT  TO  OBTAIK  THE  aUSPI^NUOK 

OF   IT  BY   LAW. 

Mr.  Jefferson  (with  as  little  ceremony  as  Bonaparte 
would  use)  by  the  assistance  df  Gen.  Wilkinson,  seized 
anA  transported  from  New- Orleans  to  Wiashington  the 
persons  of  Swartoiit  and  BpUman,  Gen.  Adair,  and 
many  others,  and  directed  they  should  npt  have  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  They  were 
sent  to  Washington  as  refractory  conscripts  are  sent  to 
the  French  army. 

'  At  the  same  period  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  a  message  to 
Congress,  recommending  the  suspension  of  the  above- 
mentioned  privilege.— .Mr.  Giles,  Mr.  Smith,  and  Mr. 
JT.  Q.  Adams,  were  appointed  a  committee.    The  same 


1S6 


ilH 

aJIwI 

W 

day  on  which  they  were  appointed,  they  reported  a  biH 
in  conformity  to  the  Pcesident*s  message.  The  Senate, 
dispensing  with  its  rules  and  orders,  passed  the  bill 
at  a  single  sitting,  and  sent  it  down  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  where  it  was  indignantly,  and  by 
a  large  maioritjr,  refused  a  second  reading.  The 
amount  of  this  bill  was,  that  when  any  man  was  charg. 
edi  with  certain  offences  against  the  United  States,  and 
should  thereupon  be  arrested,  by  the  warrant  of  the 
President,  or  any  person  acting  under  him,  the  person 
charged  with  the  crime  and  arrested,  should  not  have 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  within  tliree 
months  from  the  passing  of  that  act.  The  King  of 
£ngland  has  not  such  authority  as  was  intended  by 
this  act  to  have  been  vested  in  Mr.  Jefferson.  Nor 
would  the  King-  of  England  dare  to  ask  for  such  au- 
thority. If  tiiis  bill  l]^d  become  a  law  Mr.  Jefferson 
might  have  had  any  man  charged  with  such  offence  as 
the  bill  contemplated,  and  might  without  trial,  at  his 
own  will  and  pleasure,  have  imprisoned  the  accused,  or 
sent  him  by  military  force  to  any  part  of  the  United 
States. 

D:uing  these  three  months  he  would  have  been  as 
despotic  a.3  Bonaparte ;  and  if  the  people  had  endured 
this,  no  doubt  he  had  other  designs,  equally  hostile 
and  far  more  permanent  against  the  liberty  of  the 


citizens. 


PROOF  6. 


CREATING    OFFICES    TO    FILL    THEM. 

.There  are  several  instances  of  this  nature  of  minor 
importance^  tlie  most  prominent  is  the  case  of  Mr. 
Short,  which  being  noticed  elsewhere  in  this  work  will 
not  be  dwelt  upon  here.  But  of  whatever  importance 
any  appointment  may  have  been,  it  was  equally  a  con- 
tempt of  the  principles  of  the  constitution  to  create  an 
office  merely  for  the  purpose  of  filling  it  with  some  de-' 
voted  partizan.  The  power  of  the  President  to  appoint 
wjthoiit  the  cdncurrence  of  the  Senate,  is  limited  to  the 


1S7 


tingle  oaae  of  vaeaimet  which  may  happt.  (hrlif  ll 
recess*  The  idea  of  a  vacancy  neceasar  y  iimlkm  an 
•listing  office  and  a  previous  incumbent       ^ 

Surely,  there  cannot  be  said  to  be  a  vacdficy  whtn  the 
•iEcie  had  never  existed. 

So  the  Senate,  though  devoted  to  Jefierson,  under- 
stood it,  and  unanimously  rejected  his  nomination  of 
Mr.  Short,  whose  office  had  been  created  as  well  as 
fiOed  by  this  encroacher  upon  our  constitution,  Mr. 
Je&rson* 

PROOF  r. 

THS  SRBAROO  Affft  SMrORCIirO  ACT  OV  JAN.  9,  1809,  WSAB 
SIWMT  V10LATI0ir»  OV  TRK  CONSTITQTIOIT,  AMD  OW  THE 
B10TH8  AMD   LIB^aTY  OF   THE  CITIXEK. 

There  b  nothing  in  the  constitution  by  which  it  is 
pretended  to  justify  the  embargo,  but  this  one  es^pites* 
sioD,  **  Congress  shall  have  power  to  regulate  com- 
merce.'^ liie  president  and  his  congress  construed 
this  expression  into  a  ri^to  annihilate  Commerce,  by 
imposing  a  perpetual  or  mdefinite  embargo.  Tliey  tx» 
tended  mis  right  not  only  to  ships  and  cargods,  but  to 
goods,  wares,  and  merchandize  of  domestic  gro^vth  apd 
manufacture,  upon  the  /bnc/,.  and  even  to  miOrtey  in  d'ti- 
zens  houses.  Among  the  provisions  of  ^  ''  '^r^fbmng 
tet,''  were  the  following  :  rl  KiMai>  Q",  ,«^^n 

The  whole  trade  and  commercial  intercourse  between 
the  several  states  in  the  union,  were  subjected  to  the 
arbitrary  will  and  pleasure  of  Mr.  Jeffisrson.  And  his 
creatures,  collectors,  and  revenue  officers,  might  con- 
strue the  laws,  just  as  their  malice,  ignorance,  or  sub- 
serviency to  the  president  might  dictate.  Innocent 
persons  were  rendered  liable  to  penalties  ;  g^ilt  and  inr 
nocence  were  confounded,  and  subjected  to  one  com- 
mon punishment.  Right  of  trial  by  jury  was  takeii 
away  by  referring  questions  of  great  importai^ce  tp  the 
deci^on  of  Jefferson,  or  his  secretary  of  thetreasury;. 
The  presid^it^s  rules  and  regulations  were  to  have  the 
force  of  law.  Even  the  apt  di  God  was  not  admitted,  fif 
an^ excuse  >for.  non-ootnpliim^  with  the  proyi^ens  ?k 


i  i 


I,  f. 


Ids 

this  iRW.^olleotor^  w«iti  anthorized  ta  seize  and.tplie 
poaniiiin,  without  warrant,  without  evidence..aiul«t 
their  own  discretion,  American  produce,  and  i|iBckt, 
whenevir  in  their  opinion,  there  existed  an  intentioii  to 
violate  the  embargo.  An  officer  might  enter  a  muk^g 
house;  just  when  he  pleased,  to  search  for  these  ahi. 
cles  i  and  if  he  found  thene  money  or  gobds,  U  mi|ht 
seise  them  without  condescending  to  give  a  reasoa  &r 
so  doing ;  and  having  taken  them  into  his  custodj^,  he 
must  guard  them  by  removing  them  from  the  owoer'g 
possession,  or  by  sending  a  sufficient  force  into  his 
house  to  gjwd  them.  The  President,  his  collectors, 
rmenue  ^Bcers,  and  minions,  might  employ  the  l%nd 
or  naval  force,  and  even  the  militia  of  the  U.  States  to 
carry  these  abominable  provisions  into  effisct. 

Where  do  we  see  a  more  complete  system  of  arbi- 
tranr  power  and  military  despotism,  than  was  hcr^cie- 
ated  by  the  forms  of  law?  Napoleopi  has  not  more 
ttower  than  Jefferson  meant  to  have  had.  The  only 
diffisrenoe  between  them  is,  that  Jeffi^rson  has  not  the 
military  machinery  of  his  friend  the  emperor ;  nor  the 
««Mraget<>ti8eit,ifhehad.  ',.<'(}ov> 

It  it  needless  to  add,  that  every  one  .ipf  ^hese  provls- 
ioMare  direcdy  against  the  letter,  as  well  as  the  spirit 
of  the  constitution. 

PHOOF  8. 

asMnsioir  or  calcewdsr's  fins. 

Thi^  Callender  wrote  a  book,  called  "the  prospect 
before  isrsi"  which  is  a  series  Of  malicious  and  profligate 
calumnies  and  libels  on  our  patriots  and  (heir  measures. 
In  this  bpo4c  he  charges  Washingtoin  with  **  a  neat  and 
pure  Tiolatiori  of  his  oath,  to  pre£rve  the  eonstitutioi)." 
And  with  haying  committed^'**  an  act -of  audacious 
usurpation  and.  despotism,  in  making*  his  ph)claiiiation 
of  neutralttjr/"  >  Jefferson  saw  sonie  Of  the  proof'  sheets 
of  this  (?6dfc  before  it  went  forth  to  the  world.  He  ex- 
pressed his  approbatioii,  and  ^nt  (Daltender  fifty  dol- 
lars. VV^e'  have  seen  the  -letters  iii'  Jcffisrson?s  own 
hand  writing,  on!  which  itieie  asstrtioiis  are  founded. 


l%» 


Cittender  was  indicted,  tried,  and  found  guiltyt  and 
senienced  to  nine  months  imprisonment,  and  to  pay  a , 
fine  of  two  hundred  dollars*  This  tooli  place  at  Rich- 
mond, in  the  summer  of  I8OO4  His  term  of  imprison* 
meat  expired  on  the  4th  March,  1801,  the  day  when 
Jefferson  took  his  oaths  as  president*  Callender  had 
paid  his  fine  long  before.  On  the  16th  March,  Jeffer- 
son sent  him  a  pardon,  and  remitted  his  fine  of  two 
hundred  dollars.  His  honor  Levi  Lincoln  was  then 
Attorney  General.  Mr.  Randolph,  marshall  of  the  dis- 
trict, declined  paying  the  money,  because  he  was  ad-, 
viseid  that  it  belonged  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln informed  him  by  letter,  that  "  as  the  money  had 
not  actually  been  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States,  it  had  not  become  the  property  of  the  United 
States,'*  and  ordered  him  to  repay  it  to  Callender,  which 
wiA  great  reluctance  he  did.  This  was  a  manifest 
breaeh  of  law  i  for  the  money  once  paid  into  the  hands 
of  the  marshall,  and  the  prisoner  having  been  discharged 
by  the  marshall  of  the y?;}^,  the  property  M^as  changed,] 
It  was  the  money  of  the  United  States,  of  which  Mr, 
Jefferson  had  no  more  authority  to  dispose,  than  of  the 
money  in  the  hands  of  a  collector  who  had  received  it 
for  duties.  This  power  was  exerted  in  favor  of  a  for- 
eigner, a  fugitive  from  Europe ;  one  of  the  most  aban- 
doned and  infamous  of  men.  Callender  afterwards  be« 
came  the  enemy  of  Jefferson,  and  disclosed  his  secrets* 
He  was* in  part  punished  for  his  abominations  in  this 
world,  and  ended  his  career  by  being   drowned  at 

Richmond. 

PROOF  9. 

STOPPING    THE  PROSECUtlON   ACAI3T  Dl^AWfi. 

Wm.  Duahe,  an  Irishman,  Who  is  by  Jefferson's  ap- 
pointment a  col.  in  the  U.  S.  army,  editor  of  the  Au- 
rtra,  now  devoted  to  the  interests  of  Napoleon,  pub- 
fished  a  most  flagitious  and  daring  libel  against  the  sen- 
ate of  the  United  States,  while  Jeflerson  was  president  , 
of  that  body.     A  prosecution  was  ordered  and  com.J' 
menced,  and  was  pending  when  Jefferson  became  pre*-' 
17 


«ji ' 


11 


n    ) 


130 


sident  of  the  United  States.  An  American  wUl  almort 
doubt  the  evidence  of  his  senses,  when  he  is  assured 
that  Jefferson  usurped  the  power  of  ordering,  that  the 
prosecution  against  this  detestable  Jacobin  should  be 
stopped.  It  hns  always  been  doubted  whether  the 
pov  er  of  pardon  authorized  it. 


INTOLERANCE  IN  THE  REIGNING  PARTY, 

Ist.  PROOF 
DISMISSALS  FROM  OFFICE  &Y  PRESIDENT  JEFFERSON. 

Mr.  Jefferson  began  his  presidential  career  with  the 
most  unequivocal  assurances  of  faithful  performance 
of  duties  and  the  most  liberal  toleration  of  political 
sentiments.  It  soon  appeared  that  he  had  given  u- 
surances  which  he  intended  should  not  be  realized; 
The  federalists  do  not  covet  power^  they  only  ask  to 
be  well  and  constitutionally  governed.  They  gave 
Mr.  Jefferson  credit  in  advance  when  his  inaugural 
speech  was  published.  They  would  have  supported 
him  if  his  conduct  had  conformed  to  his  professions. 
Mr.  Madison's  first  official  communication  wastrel! 
received  by  the  federalists. — Some  of  them  were  dispos- 
ed to  give  their  approbation  most  openly  ;  but  others 
thought  they  krew  the  breed,  and  that  it  would  be 
safest  to  be  quie^  until  they  had  *^  summered  him  ad 
wintered  him,** 

While  Mr.  Adams  was  President  he  displaced  two 
or  three  men.  This  was  complained  of  with  great 
bitterness.  In  the  course  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  adminis- 
tration almost  every  man^  so  far  our  information  ex- 
tends^ was  turned  out  of  office^  who  had  committed  the 
sin  of  being  Washington's  disciple  or  friend.  One 
exception  only  occurs  to  us,  and  that  is  the  case  of  the 
Ycnerable  General  Lincoln^  whom  even  Thomas  Jeffer- 


131 


80D  did  not  dare  to  displace.  He  eventually  left  the 
office  of  oollector^  because  neither  he^  nor  thpse 
vhom  he  had  associated  ^ith  himself  in  his  office^ 
could  reconcile  it  to  conscience  and  honour  to  carry 
the  nefarious  edicts  of  Jefferson  into  effect.  Before 
Mr.  Jeffejson  had  been  president  a  twelvemonth  the 
Honourable  Mr.  Bayard  then  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  w  Congress,  and  now  Senator  from 
the  State  of  Delaware^  thus  expressed  himself  in  de> 
bate.  "  In  the  track  of  the  present  executive  we  see 
the  real  victims  of  stero^  uncharitable,  unrelenting 
power.  It  is  here  we  see  tlie  soldier  who  fought  the 
battles  of  the  revolution,  to  establish  the  independence 
of  his  country,  deprived  of  the  reward  for  his  services, 
aod  left  io  pine  in  penury  and  wretchedness.  No  me- 
rit, no  services,  no  truth,  no  innocence  can  save  the  un- 
happy sectary,  who  does  not  believe  in  the  creed  of 
those  in  power." 

When  devotion  to  «  political  faction  becomes  the 
first  recommendation  to  office,  bankrupts  in  fortune 
and  fame  are  the  men  who  are  employed.  The  exam- 
ple which  Jefferson  gave  io  his  adherents  has  been 
faithfully  followed  by  all  his  creatures  in  office. 

The  post  offices — The  revenue  department — The 
law  officers — every  where  verify  the  assertions  of  Mr. 
Bayard.  The  natural  consequences  of  appointments 
made  from  such  motives  are  severely  felt. — Who  but 
Thomas  Jefferson  would  faav-e  appointed  William 
Duane  a  colonel  in  the  American  army  ? — We  sympa- 
thize with  the  worthy  Americans  of  that  department 
vrho  are  compelled  to  wear  the  same  uniform  with  that 
abandoned  foreigner;  and  especially  those  who  by 
military  rules  may  be  obliged  to  obey  him  as  a  superior. 
We  have  neither  time  nor  room  to  name  or  number 
here,  the  individuals  appointed  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  who 
have  abused  their  trust  and  defrauded  the  public.  The 
suips  which  have  been  lost  by  these  persons  would 

'■'»".-i^-^^nm%>ik^  mr^tfiusfnn  t!.ti«.iy^aui  JIHSlHiai-l  3imJl3flf*^ 


il 


.^ 


132 


support  the  government  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts 
more  than  three  years. 

It  ought  not  to  be  omitted  that  there  is  a  most  ma- 
teria) change  as  to  public  confidence  in  post  offices. 
There  are  complaints  that  when  political  information 
is  to  be  communicated^  that  ^/vhich  proceeds  from  one 
party  is  sure  to  find  its  destination^  while  that  of  the 
adverse  party  is  almost  equally  sure  to  fall  short  of  it. 

PROOF  3. 

,,THE  FAMOUS  REPORT  OF  LEVI  LINCOLN  AND  OTHERS  OF 

THE  COUNCIL. 

Levi  Lincoln  Esq.  and  his  associates^  who  constitut- 
ed the  executive  counsel  of  this  state  from  May  1807 
to  Mav  1808,  deliberately  and.  unblushingly  put  on 
the  files  of  the  council  chamber  their  earnest  recom- 
mendation in  writing  (signed  with  their  own  handsj 
to  the  Governor  to  pursue  the  same  intolerant  course 
which  Jefferson  and  his  creatures  had  pursued,  and 
hurl  from  office  every  man,  from  high  to  low,  who  did 
not  openly  and  avowedly  think  and  act  with  their  par- 
ty. Their  words  are,  ''It  would  be  arraigning  the  wis- 
dom and  justice  of  the  national  administration*  a 
censure  and  reproach  of  its  most  deliberate  acts"rr>D# 
to  displace  every  man  not  known  to  be  in  sentiment 
with  themselves, 

PROOF  3. 

ATTEMPT  IN  CONGRESS  TO  G./^G  THE  FEDERAL  MEMBERS. 

The  present  majority  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives lately  made  and  supported  a  motion  by  which 
they  could,  at  any  moment,  by  moving  for  the;  previ- 
^  ous  question,  silence  debate,  and  carry  their  measure. 
'Theol»ect  doubtless  was  to  keep  fjrom  the  public  a 
I  jLuowledge  of  their  proceedings,  and  to  save  themselves 
from  the  paia  of  hearing  the  truths  which  federalists 
utter. 


Ids 


MEMBERS. 


.     •  W»!^vPROOF  4.  « 

TBB    CRY    AGAINST  FEDERAL    MEN,  AND  THE    FEDERAL 
PRESSES  OF  TREASON  AND  SEDITION. 

At  the  last  session  but  one  of  the  legislattire  of  this 
state  a  Mr.  Crowningshielil  moved  that  the  House  of 
Representatives  should  approve  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
national  government  in  laying  the  embargo^  &c.  Thb 
report  of  the  committee,  dravirn  up  by  our  vt^orthy  chi^ 
magistrate,  and  adopted  by  the  House,  and  which  had 
a  most  important  ejlect  in  removing  the  obnoxious  res- 
trictions which  then  existed,  has  been  uniformly  held 
up  iu  ail  |;he  democratic  papers,  and  evien  in  debate  in 
the  legislature,  as  sedition  and  rebellion. — -The  discus- 
sions whether  public  or  private  which  take  place  on 
the  subject  of  national  concerns,  are  all  treated  in  the 
same  manner.  The  object  of  the  reigning  party 
seems  to  be,  to  silence  every  inquiry  into  the  conduct 
of  rulers  who  hold  their  offices  by  election  t 

PROOF  5.  -^ 

JUDGE    RAY    CRBEN's    COMMISSION.  >\ 

The  Hop.  Ray  Green,  of  Rhode-Island,  had  bec^ 
duly  nomihat^d  to  the  Senate  as  District  Jud^  of  that 
^State— The  Senate  ratified  tJfe  appoititment — ^The 
commission  was  signed^— Here  the  powers  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive ceased — The  commission  was  the  property  of 
Mr.  Green — But  Mr.  Jefferson  forcibly  seized  this  pa^ 
p&Ty  against  law  and  suppressed  it,  and  nominated  an- 
other man  to  the  cilice.        «j»fl«»9 »t*>^<ft>'^  it*  t ?*»*.* *r^^ 

•>;?linJTH»-^H   1«»  HiJsr^Mf !    PROOF  6.  r-sy -^rfT 

THE    SUPPRESSION    OF    THE    COMMISSIONS    OF    THE 
JUSTICES    OF    COLUMBIA    DISTRICT. 

Mr.  Adams  appointed  certain  persons  Justices  of  the 
Peace  within  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  com- 
missions were  regularly  signed,  sealed  and  issued,  and 
left  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  be  deliv- 
ered to  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  But 


ll  I 


w  4 


134 


m 


these  persons  were  federalists ;  and  although  a  right 
of  pro[ierty  in  these  commissions  was  vested,  they 
were  suppressed  and  destroyed,  and  other  persons 
agreeable  to  Mr,  Jefferson  appointed. 

PROOE  r. 

THE  BATTURE  AND  GEORGIA  LAND. 

The  proprietors  of  a  place  called  the  Batture  at 
New- Orleans,  recovered  by  force  of  law,  in  the  regular 

i'udicial  courts  of  the  territory,  possession  of  this  tract, 
iut  the  United  States  had  a  claim  to  it,  and  no  judicial 
course  was  open  to  them. 

Mr.  Jefferson  ordered  a  file  of  soldiers  to  turn  the 
proprietors  out  of  possession,  and  it  is  still  retained  by 
military  force. 

The  saihe  arbitrary  principles  and  conduct  have 
been  exercised  towards  a  very  meritorious  and  su£fer* 
ing  class  of  people  in  New- England. 

The  State  of  Georgia  scM  a  large  tract  of  land,  re* 
alized  the  money  which  is  still  retained,  and  afterwards 
by  an  abominable  act  rescinded  their  own  grant,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  obtained  by  fraud. 
.  Whether  the  charge  be  true  or  false,  is  nothing  to 
the  innocent  purchasers  in  New-England,  who  knew 
fiothkig  of  the  grant,  till  the  purchasers  from  the  State 
appeared  among  them  with  their  grants. 

Conscious  that  this  pretence  for  robbing  these  unhap* 
py  and  >deiaded  men  would  not  avail  in  a  court  of  justice, 
the  democratick  party  in  Congress  passed  an  act  author, 
ising  the  President  to  repel  by  military  force  any  at' 
tempt  on  the  part  of  these  innocent  claimants  to  take 
possession  of  their  lands  in  order  to  try  the  title  in  the 
judicial  courts. 

What  renders  this  conduct  the  more  inexcusable  is, 
that  commissioners  appointed  by  the  government,  con- 
sisting  of  the  Attorney  General  and  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  had  reported  in  favour  of  the  claims  of  our 
unfortunate  citizens. 
-•    May  we  not  then  fairly  conclude  that  we  have  proved 


i    tt-'J  .  -M). 


aJ^^; 


US 

niost  abundantly  both  the  frequent  viotatiohs  of  the 
constitution  and  the  intolerence  of  the  ruling  par^  ? 

Shall  it  be  said,  to  the  disgrace  of  our  countty,  that 
all  these  proofs  will  avail  nothing,  or  that  they  will  tend 
to  confirm  the  partizans  of  the  administration  in  their 
support  of  their  unprincipled  chieftains  ? 

If  this^must  be  the  case,  we  must  not  only  say  that 
^is  is  the  last  experiment  ia  favour  of  a  republican  gov- 
ernment, but  that  this  last  one  is  likely  to  be  abortive* 


VII. 


imURIOUS  EFFECTS  OF  THE  SYSTEM  OF 
THE  ADMINISTRATION  ON  PUBLICK 

MORALS, 

Perhaps  there  is  nothing  in  the  system  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's administration  which  will  be  more  felt  in  its  con- 
sequences, than  its  ii^uence  on  the  pubtick  morals. 
Every  act  of  his  that  has  tended  to  confound  moral  dis- 
tinctions, to  lessen  the  respect  that  belongs  to  the  wise 
and  good,  and  to  encourage  the  hopes  and  views  of  the 
unprincipled,has  done  great  injury  to  the  best  interests  of 
society.  The  mischief  is  twofold;  it  animates  bad  arnd 
dbcourages  good  men.  It  will  continue  to  increase 
and  spread  long  ^ter  the  immediate  cause  has  ceased 
to  operate.  It  will  work  invisibly  but  surety  ;  and  its 
pernicious  effects  will  be  perceived  in  the  general  con^ 
tempt  of  all  moral  sentiments,  in  an  exclusive  devotion 
to  the  views  of  a  faction,  and  in  the  pursuit,  of  selfish- 
ness and  ambition.  '  '  ,  ^         I  5    ,  H  ^5  *« 

The  elevation  of  a  man  to  the  office  of  President  of 
known  infidel  principles,  the  avowed  patron  of  Thomas 
Paine,  gave  a  shock  to  the  religious  and  moral  sense  of 
the  country.  It  wa*,  indeed,  a  novel  thiwg,  for  a  chris- 
tian people  to  elect  for  their  first  magistrate,  a  despisier 
of  their  holy  religion ;  and  many  good  men  were  dfeep- 
ly  affected  by  an  event  so  unpropitious  to  tlie  truest 
welfare  of  their  country.  They  ditl  not  so  mock  fear 
a  direct  attack  upon  their  faith,  though  it  was  made  by 


136 


hi$  friend  Paine,  in  the  newspapers  devoted  to  his  ad- 
minihistration,  as  the  indirect  influence  and  popularity 
of  Mr.  Jefierson's  philosophick  principles,  when  asso- 
ciated with  power  and  patronage.  It  was  foreseen 
that  &e  men  who  had  laboured  for  him  would  be  re. 
warded  with  office,  and  it  was  known  that  these  men 
were  destitute  of  .all  moral  qualifications ;  ai^  had  no. 
thin^  to  recommend  them,  but  their  zeal  aA?  activity 
in  his  cause.  \ 

Mr.'Jefferson  has  been  true  to  his  principles.  As 
soon  as  he  had  the  power  to  reward  the  instruments  of 
his  elevation  he  did'  it,  shamelessly  and  triumphantly. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  his  administration,  was  to  rescue 
Duane,  an  Irishman,  from  legal  process,  by  ordering  i 
noli  prosequiy  and  one  of  the  last  was,  to  make  this  fugi- 
tive from,  the  justice  of  his  own  country,  this  libeller  of 
Washington,  this  infamous  abettor  of  all  the  insolence 
and  injustice  of  France,  a  colonel  in  the  armt/^  of  the  U, 
States  !!  Gen.  Wilkinson  too  has  been  supported  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  as  commander  in  chief,  against  the  most  une- 
quivocal expression  of  the  publick  sentiment,  and  in 
spite  of  the  abhorrence  and  contempt  of  a  majority  of 
all  parties.  In  this  instance,  he  seems  designedly  to 
have  set  publick  opinion  at  defiance,  and  like,  a  true 
despot,  to  have  cherished  his  favourite  in  proportion  as 
every  bddy  else  hated  and  despised  him.  No  other 
sovereign  could  have  retained  such  a  man  in  such  an 
office;  no,  not  even  Napoleon  himself;  yet  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son has  been  able  to  uphold  this  ^u^ricf  general,  and  he 
has  done  it  with  as  much  complacency  as  though  he 
had  not  become  too  offensive  to  be  endured. 

Callender,  another  libeller,  who  had  been  extremely 
useful  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  who  had  received  from 
him  money,  as  an  encouragement  and  reward  for  his 
labours,  and  who  had  been  convicted  and  fined  in  the 
circuit  court,  was  pardoned,  and  received  back  from 
the  marshal  the  amount  of  his  fine.  This  was  done  af- 
ter the  fine  had  been  paid  to  the  marshal,  ^nd  had  be- 
coinc  the  property  of  the  United  States^  in  violation  of 


.iVi 


'  i 


ii  ►i. 


Ni  137 

all  legal  principle  as  well  as  the  common  sentiment  of 
justice.  To  these  might  be  added  the  pardon  of  Jones, 
and  of  Lewis  Freeman,  a  notorious  counterfeiter,  who 
had  applied  to  Mr.  Adams  for  a  pardon,  which  was  re- 
fused ;  but  enough  has  been  mentioned  to  shew  that 
he  has  pardoned  criminals  when  convicted,  and  pro- 
moted them  before  conviction  to  offices,  merely  from 
political  considerations. 

These  examples  have  had  imitators  among  some  of 
the  governors  of  democratick  states.  In  Maryland, 
governor  Wright  exercised  the  power  of  pardon,  in  fa- 
vour of  the  ring  leaders  in  a  riot,  who  had  assaulted, 
tarred  and  feathered  a  man  by.  the  name  of  Beattie,  for 
uttering  some  expressions  displeasing  to  the  mob  of 
Baltimore.  The  supposed  offence,  in  this  case,,  was 
altogether  of  a  political  nature ;  it  consisted  in  the  mere 
expression  of  some  political  sentiment,  and  the  in^".- 
ference  of  the  governor  from  political  motives,  lO  res- 
cue the  culprits,  who  had  been  duly  convicted  in  a 
court  of  law,  from  punishment,  was  a  high  lianded  out- 
rage upon  all  the  principles  of  order,  law,  and  justice. 

The  state  of  rennsylvania  may  now  be  consider- 
ed as  in  the  second  stage  of  democracy ;  of  course, 
we  should  naturally  expect  to  find  more  ignorant  and 
violent  men  in  o$ce,  more  division  and  animosity 
among  rival  parties,  and  more  confusion  and  vio- 
lence through  the  state.  The  present  governor  Sny- 
der was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  declared  to  be 
by  all  his  political  friends,  a  most  intelligent  and  hon- 
est man.  Duane,  his  former  friend  and  most  efficient 
supporter,  has  recently  charged  him  with  hiving  frau- 
dulently altered  the  date  of  an  important  letter,  com- 
municated to  the  legislature,  and  afterwards  to  huve 
added  a  falsehood  to  this  species  of  forgery.  Whether 
governor  Snyder  is  a  felon  or  Duane  a  liar,  it  is  of  no 
importance  for  us  to  know ;  but  this  we  do  know  of  his 
excellency,  that  he  ordered  out  a  military  force,  to  re- 
sist the  marshal  of  the  district,  in  executing  ciyil  pro- 
10     -  •  ff  '■■'^■K.J"'  T  r; 


\i ' 


11' 


\1 
138 


cess,  and  that  his  conduct  has  becii  approved  by  a  great 
majority  of  the  state  legislature. 

The  administration  of  the  state  governments  has 
been  changed  by  the  same  acts  and  delusions  that 
brought  Mr.  Jefferson  into  power.  The  men  vt^ho  have 
held  or  now  hold  the  principal  offices,  obtained  them  as 
he  did ;  by  a  hypocritical  pretence  of  regard  to  the 
rights  of  the  people, — by  associating  themselves 
with  the  prevailing  popular  prejudices  and  passions, 
by  the  excitement  of  groundless  fears,  by  the  allure- 
ment of  false  hopes,  by  misrepresenting  the  motives 
and  measures  oi  their  opponents,  by  calumny,  by 
fraud,  and  by  falsehood.  Offices  have  been  distribute 
ed  in  the  same  manner  among  the  zealous  and  the  ac- 
tive, and  the  question  has  never  been  with  them  any 
more  than  with  Mr.  Jefferson  :  "  Is  he  honest,  is  he 
capable,  is  he  faithful  to  the  constitutution,"  but  is  he 
a  partizan,  has  he  influence,  and  will  he  be  faithful  to 
us"  or  to  his  party  ?  The  plan  of  proscription,  proposed 
by  his  honour  Levi  Lincoln,  in  his  report,  would  be 
adopted  in  this  state  if  ever  the  people  should  loose 
sight  of  their  true  interest,  and  suffer  themselves  to  fall 
under  democratick  rule.  The  power  of  pardon  would 
be  exercised  to  screen  from  punishments,  political  ad- 
herents,  who  had  received  sentence,  and  the  jail  and  the 
pillory  would  be  robbed  to  increase  the  ranks  of  party. 

The  effects  of  such  a  system  are  too  corrupting  to  con- 
tinue long.  The  exercise  of  the  power  of  pardon  from  po- 
litical motives  corrupts  the  very  fountain  of  justice,  and 
amountsto  a  license  to  commit  crimes.  The  law  is  no  long- 
er dreaded  as  the  avenger  of  wrongs  done  to  the  person  or 
property  of  any  member  of  the  societv,  when  the  culprit 
sees  a  power  above  the  law  ready  to  interpose  in  his  be- 
half at  the  moment  sentence  is  to  be  executed.  The  men 
invested  with  this  power  are  regarded  as  the  friends  and 
patrons  of  all  who  have  aided  their  views,  or  can  help 
support  them  in  office.  Such  a  sentiment  thus  produc- 
ed, would  opeMe  like  an  indulgence  to  commit  crimes, 
to  be  had  by  all  who  should  be  wicked  enough  to  pay 


139 


the  price.  It  would  necessarily  collect  about  such  an 
administration,  as  its  friends  and  supporters,  the  selfish, 
the  unprincipled,  and  the  profligate ;  the  men  who  need- 
ed and  the  men  who  wished  to  be  protected  against  the 
law;  and  it  would  necessarily  exclude  from  its  circle 
the  men  of  honour,  integrity,  and  virtue.  Has  a  crime 
been  committed  ?  A  pardon  is  at  hand.  Is  an  office 
wanted?  devotion  to  tl>e  cause  is  the  price.  A  system 
like  this  sets  the  whole  mass  of  corrupt  passsions  in  mo- 
tion, on  the  eve  of  an  important  election ;  it  tempts  the 
virtue  of  the  weak,  it  seduces  the  wavering  and  self-in- 
terested; it  encourages  the  intriguer  and  confirms  the 
villain. 

The  long  list  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  favourites,  who  have 
been  rewarded  by  him  for  their  zeal,  with  lucrative  of- 
fices, and  who  have  plundered  the  people  of  more  than 
a  million  of  dollars,  affords  melancholy  proof  of  the 
tmth  of  these  remarks.  Skinner,  Livingston,  Brown, 
Clark,  and  many  others,  were  all  violent  partizans, 
were  all  rewarded  with  offices,  and  have  all  since  turned 
out  to  he  public  defaulters. 

2.  The  ruinous  restrictive  laws  upon  our  com- 
merce, continually  changing,  ace  not  only  ruinous  to 
commercial  enterprize,  but  hold  out  a  premium  to 
fraud  and  smuggling.  Nothing  can  be  more  injurious 
to  the  real  merchants  of  a  country,  than  any  uncertain- 
ty with  regard  to  its  commercial  regulations.  It  re- 
quires time  and  experience  for  such  men  to  ascertain 
the  advantages  of  any  particular  course  of  trade,  to 
make  their  calculations  on  sure  ground,  and  to  carry  on 
their  enterprizes  with  success.  But  if  a  particular 
branch  of  trade,  which  is  lawful  to  day,  becomes  un- 
lawful tomorrow,  the  solid  merchants  are  compelled  to 
embark  in  doubtful  speculations,  or  abandon  all  business 
to  adventurers  and  smugglers.  Much  time  is  occupi- 
ed, and  many  voyages  delayed,,  in  order  to  ascertain 
whether  this  or  that  bill  will  pass  congress,  as  their  des- 
tination and  eventual  success  are  made  to  depend  on 
the  endless  and  ever- varying  caprice  of  that  body.  A 
more  effectual  method  than  this  cannot  be  devised  to 


140 


drive  from  all  concern  in  business,  the  experienc<!d  and 
honourable  merchants  of  thb  countnr,  ana  to  introduce 
a  body  of  needy  and  desperate  adventurers  in  their 
places,  who  would  defraud  the  revenue,  and  destroy  all 
mercantile  credit  at  home  and  abroad.  >»  :  <• 

Before  this  wretched  svstem  of  commercial  restric. 
tions  had  been  devised,  the  character  of  our  merchants 
stood  higher,  the  revenue  was  better  collected,  and 
with  fewer  officers,  than  can  be.  found  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world.  These  men  knew  that  a  revenue 
from  commerce  w4s  indispensable  to  the  operations 
of  .the  new  government,  and  they  were  disposed  to  give 
the  system  a  fair  trial.  Of  course  they  cherished  a 
sense  of  the  strictest  punctuality,  and  frowned  indig. 
nantly  upon  every  attempt  at  evasion  of  the  revenue 
iaw^.  By  such  a  course  of  frank,  honourable  and  honest 
conduct,  they  secured  the  interest  of  the  government 
better  than  thousands  of  spies  and  gun-boats.  The 
honourable  sentiments  which  were  found  in  every 
man's  breast,  were  the  sure  pledge  of  a  fair  collection  of 
the  revenue  ;  they  rendered  evasions  and  frauds  not 
.  only  dishonourable,  but  almost  im()ossible.  The  con- 
seiquence  was,  the  rapid  increase  of  wealth,  and  of 
revenue,  the  establishment  of  a  solid  credit,  the  en- 
conragement  of  agriculture,  and  general  diffusion  of 
prosperity. 

This  invaluable  system  of  commercial  manners,  this 
nice  sense  of  honour,  this  regard  to  punctuality,  this 
concern  for  the  due  collection  of  the  revenue,  are  in  a 
great  manner  broken  down  by  the  vexatious  and  odious 
restrictions  upon  cpmmerce.  So  strongly  has  the  pub- 
lic opinion  set  against  these  laws,  that  to  evade  or  vio- 
late them  has  not  been  disreputable  ;  and  what  must 
be  the  condition  of  any  country,  where  a  violation  of 
the  law  is  in  accordance  with  the  general  sentiment. 
The  folly  of  making  such  laws  can  be  equalled  only  by 
the  fc^ljr  of  persisting  in  maintaining  them,  when  the 
power  to  enforce  their  due  observance  is  lost.  That 
ilies?  laws  have  not  been  and  cannot  be  executed,  we 


141 


have  the  most  abundant  evidence ;    I  need  only  refer 
to  the  records  of  our  courts. 

Who  then,  let  us  ask,  are  most  to  be  blamed  for  this 
debasement  of  national  character,  this  corruption  of  the 
pubhc  manners  and  morals  ?  We  answer,  the  govern- 
ment. They  have  laid  snares  for  the  people,  by  com- 
pelling them  to  choose  between  evasions  of  the  laws 
and  absolute  want.  The}^  have  held  put  the  tempta- 
tion of  great  profit  to  the  indigent,  the  avaricious  and 
unprincipled,  by  interdicting  the  customary  trade  of 
the  country.  The  desire  of  great  gain  has  triumphed 
over  better  principles.  The  whole  system  is  so  detest- 
able in  itself,  and  the  causes  of  it  so  base  ai^d  dishon- 
ourable, that  any  attempt  to  set  it  at  defiance  has  been 
considered  as  a  venial  offence.  The  morals  and  man- 
ners of  no  people  on  earth,  would  be  proof  against  such 
an  unnecessary  and  ruinous  course  of  policy.  It  is 
not  in  human  nature  or  human  vutue,  to  sustain  unin- 
jured such  multiplied  temptations,  and  let  those  who 
have  needlessly  and  wickedly  brought  on  the  trial  look 
to  the  consequences. 

The  ruin  of  our  commerce  and  the  corruption  ol  our 
morals  are  not  the  only  evils  that  have  resulted  from 
this  execrable  system  of  commercial  restrictions.  The 
government  have  boasted  of  its  power  over  foreign  na- 
tions, as  superseding  the  necessity  of  all  warlike  prepa- 
rations, and  as  containing  within  itself  such  means  and 
energies  as  would  bring  the  proudest  and  most  ppwer- 
ful  of  them  at  our  feet.  The  experiment  has  been 
made,  and  the  result  has  been  both  ruinous  and  disgrace- 
ful to  ourselves.  Foreign  nations  have  learned  the 
comparitive  unimportance  of  our  trade,  and  the  impo- 
tence of  our  coercive  measures.  Mr.  Armstrong,  our 
minister  at  Paris,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  says,  eight 
months  after  the  embargo  was  laid,  that  in  France  it  is 
not  felt,  and  that  in  England  it  is  forgotten.  This  same 
minister,  in  a  letter  to  Mr  Pinkney,  says,  that  all  die 
measures  hitherto  adopted,  to  compel  France  to  dp  us 
justice,  have  done  no  good.^    "Nay,  (says  he)  the  repi- 


I 


'i ' 


I 


■  li- 


■!i 


148 

tition  of  those  may  be  fairly  presumed  to  have  done  mis- 
chi^,  inasmuch  as  it  has  tended  to  establish  a  creed, 
that  WOE 08  in  some  form  or  other  are  the  only  meam 
we  have  to  employ.'*  France  hates  us,  a  nation  dS 
shopkeepers  and  traders,  but  she  despises  us  more  for 
our  want  of  *' military  means,  and  military  virtues" 
The  evils  and  their  causes,  which  have  been  displayed 
in  the  preceding  pa^s,  diemand  the  most  serious  con- 
sideration of  every  fnend  to  his  country.  Is  there  any 
remedy,  and  if  so,,  where  is  it  to  be  fonnd,  is  the  en- 
quiry  of  many  an  anxious  mind.  The  states  south  of 
New- York,  with  the  exception  of  Delaware,  are  devoted 
to  the  views  of  the  administration,  and  have  mostly 
pledged  diemselves  to  support  its  infatuated  measures. 
At  present,  there  is  no  hope  that  an  apprehension  of 
impending  evils,  a  sense  of  danger,  a  fear  of  an  unne- 
cessary and  unjust  war  will  be  excited  in  that  section  of 
the  country,  sufficient  to  check  or  controul  the  ominous 
career  of  the  government.  Where  then  can  be'  found 
that  manly  and  inquiring  spirit,  that  long  cherished  re- 
gard to  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  country, 
that  well-founded  dread  of  France,  her  adherents,  her 
arts,  and  her  arms,  and  that  just,  temperate  and  concil- 
iatory disposition  towards  England,  which,  in  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  world  are  indispensable  to  our  salva- 
tion ?  If  these  exist  at  all,  they  will  be  found  in  the 
northern  section  of  the  Union,  there  the  hopes  of  the 
country  rest,  and  there  its  great  interests  are  to  be  con- 
tended for,  by  all  authorized  means. 

We  have  exhibited  in  detail  the  proofs  of  the  hostile 
temper  of  the  administration  towards  England,  and  of 
its  subserviency  to  France.  Alarming  and  even  terri- 
ble as  this  aspect  of  our  aifairs  is,  a  union  in  sentiment 
and  object  of  New- York  with  New-England,  would 
form  such  a  counterpoise,  as  to  save  the  country  from 
falling  into  the  arms  of  France,  A  distinct  and  un- 
equivocal expression  of  the  sentiment  of  this  section, 
manifested  by  the  approaching  elections  would  carry 
.  discomfiture  and  dismay  into  pur  national  councils,  an4 


143 

save  us  from  the  shock  of  a  British  war.  With  such 
a  force  of  sentiment  and  opinion  against  them,  the  ad- 
ministration would  not  dare  to  hazard  a  war  with  Great 
Britain  nor  an  alliance  with  France.  Kentucky  and 
Georgia  might  demand  a  war,  but  such  clamour  would 
not  be  relied  upon,  as  furnishing  evidence  of  the  means 
and  resources  to  carry  it  dn  ;  no,  the  administration 
know  very  well  where  the  money  is  to  support 
the  war,  and  where  the  men  are  to  fight  the  battles. 
They  have  not  fojgotten  that  during  the  first  year«of  thfc 
revolutionary  war,  the  single  State  of  Massachusetts  sent 
into  the  field,  besides  militia,  more  than  sixteen  thou- 
sand regular  troops,  and  that  during  the  whole  period 
of  the  war,  Massachusetts  ahd  Connecticut  furnished 
nearly  one  half  of  the  standing  disciplined  force  of^the 
country.  New.  York  and  New-England  together  com- 
prise a  population  of  about  two  millions  and  an  half, 
and  have  paid  on  an  average  more  than  one  half  of  the 
whole  revenue  of  the  United  States.  A  large  portion 
of  the  population  of  New- York  is  of  New- England 
origin,  the  interests  and  pursuits  of  both  are  the  same, 
and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  ere  long  their  views  and 
policy  will  be  the  same.  These  are  important  facts, 
well  known  to  the  administration.  They  must  and  will 
have  weight  in  all  calculations  of  national  strength  and 
resources.  If  then  it  is  distinctly  seen  that  this  section 
of  the  country  is  opposed  to  the  late  daring  and  ruinous 
measures  of  the  administration,  it  will  control  the  con- 
sequences of  them,  or  prevent  their  repetition. 

Here  then  are  motives  ample  enough  for  the  most  en^ 
larged  patriotism,  and  of  such  commanding  importance 
that  indifference  and  indolence  can  no  longer  resist  them. 
The  friends  of  the  peace  and  independence  of  the  coun- 
try are  called  upon  by  all  honourable  means,  by  every 
honest  exertionj  and  by  unremitting  labours  to  preserve 
those  blessings  to  themselves  and  meir  children.  The 
crisis  is  at  hand ;  the  result  of  the  ensuing  elections  Will 
probably  decide  the  question  of  peace  or  war. '  'It  i^  ri6 
time  for  the  indulgence  of  paltry  passions  and  prejti^es, 


^■^V.'& 


l*\      ill 


144 


these  must  all  give  place  to  the  grc^t  concerns  of  gene- 
ral safety.  A  sense  of  common  danger  must  and  will 
unite  all  in  measures  for  the  salvation  of  all.  Men  must 
speak  the  truth  fearlessly,  state  facts  boldly,  and  urge 
home  to  the  bosoms  of  their  neighbours  the  inferences 
that  necessarily  follow.  There  must  and  will  be  a  gen- 
eral co-operation  among  the  men  of  talents  and  virtue 
throughout  the  country,  an  unity  and  concert  in  action, 
a  fixed  resolution,  to  expose  the  causes  and  conse- 
quences  of  the  ruinous  measures  of  our  ruters,  a  settled 
determination,  that  if  their  country  must  fall  they  will 
remain  to  the  last  guiltless.  To  furnish  in  part  the 
means  of  doing  this  great  work,  successfully  we  have 
with  some  pains  and  labour  given  an  outline  of  the 
history  of  Nlr.  Jefferson's  policy,  in  which  we  trust  the 
facts  we  have  stated  will  operate  as  powerful  motives  to 
the  most  strenuous  exertion. 

.'  The  contest  with  our  political  opponents  is  not  lim- 
ited to  the  election  of  this  or  that  man  to  office  ;  but  it 
is  to  influence  and  probably  decide  the  future  character 
of  our  national  policy.  Our  administration  are  anx- 
iously looking  to  the  result ;  for,  by  this  their  own 
course  will  be  shaped.  Such  is  the  nature  of  our  gov- 
ernment, that  publick  opinion  will  be  felt, .  it  will  have 
a  controuling  influence ;  and  this  opinion  cannot  be 
so  forcibly  expressed  as  by  our  elections.  Let  every 
man  carry  with  him  the  sentiment  that  his  domestick 
and  fireside  enjoyments,  the  security  of  his  property 
and  person,  the  continuance  of  his  civil  and  religious 
rights  may  all  depend  on  the  vote  he  may  give ;  lor  a 
war  with  Great  Britain  and  the  consequent  alliance  with 
France,  involves  the  existence  of  all  these.  Of  the 
imminent  danger  of  such  a  war  and  its  consequences 
our  readers  must  judge  for  themselves,  from  the  facts 
and  reasonings  in  the  preceding  pages.  Whether  wc 
prevail  in  such  a  contest  or  are  defeated,  the  conse- 
quences to  us  will  be  alike  disastrous.  An  aiiianct 
with  her  enemies  will  be  inevitable,  nay,  our  own  gov- 
ernincnt  have  long  since  pledged  themselves  to  become 


14B> 


> 


(he  ally  of  France  on  certain  conditions.  ■  in  the  event 
of  a'War  with  flhgland  these  conditions  would  of  cour^ 
be^compKed  with,  and  we  should  be  bound  hand  and 
foot,  and  linked  to  the  destinies  of  ¥*rance.  Does  any 
man  in  hiis  senses  believe  that  our  indepetideiice  Mfoiild 
longsurviyesudiaconnexionf    ''*  " 

ff,  liowcverj  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts^  We  arc  to  be 
driven  into  an' utijust  and  unnecessary  livar,  it  will  ^^t 
once  be  perceived  that  its  burdens  and  its  privations 
will  fall  most  heavily  on  this  part  of  the  Union.  Our 
trade  and  t)ur  fisheries  will  be  cut  off,  those  %reat 
sources  of  our  wealth  and  prosperity.  We  are  aware, 
that  the  advocates  of  such  a  war  look  to  our  success 
in  privateering  as  an^ndemnity  for  the  loss  of  our  com- 
merce ;  and  appeal  to  the  "captures  made  in  the  first 
years  of  the  last  war  as  evidence  of  what  we  can  achieve 
now ;  but  let  it  be  remembered,  that  Great  Britain  then 
had  not  as  she  has  now  the  command  of  the  ocean. 
The  naVal  force  of  France  was  then  nearly  or  quite 
equal  to  her  own  ;  united  with  that  of  Holland  or  Spain 
it  was  superior;  now  the  naval  force  of  the  world  is 
inftfior  to  her  own.  But  even  those  who  rely  on  our 
power  to  capture  British  merchantmen  well  know  that 
all  the  valuable  trade  of  £ne;land  is  now  protected  by 
convoy,  and  that  during  the  last  years  of  the  war, 
when  experience  had  taught  the  necessity  of  this  pre- 
caution, our  privateering  was  a  most  unprofitable  busi- 
ness. At  this  moment  such  is  her  naval  superiority 
that  she  is  able  to  blockade  every  port  of  the  U.  States, 
arid  have  force  enough  left  to  cope  with  all  her  other 
enemies.  A  war  then  would  certainly  destroy  our 
commerce,  and  with  it  would  decline  our  agriculture^ 
our  arts,  our  industry,  our  enterprize,  together  widi 
all  the  Virtues  of  civilized  life.  Thus  excluded  from  our 
element;  What  benefits  could  Francie  give  us,  if  she 
had  the  disposition?  Could  she  protect  our  trade 
when  her  ships  are  blocked  up  in  her  own  ports,  and 
she  can  only  venture  on  the  ocean  in  a  few  skulking 
privateers?  But  if  the  great  emperor  was  able  he  if; 
19 


■: 


I: 


146 


not  disposed  to  encoura&e  or  protect  the  commerce  of 
his  own  Subjects.  He  hates  commerce",  beomtse^H  is 
his  enemy;;  he  hates  and  despises  us  feer  our  der 
motion  to  it;  yet  with  the  Dutch;  we  shall  becomr 
pielled  to  exhaust  the  last  cent  of  our  resources 
in  order  to  conquer  the  freedom  of  the  seas.  The 
melancholy  catalogue  of  republicks  anfl  stateS)  once 
prosperous  and  independent^  that  first  became  the  allies 
and  afterwards  the  vie  inis  of  France,  ought  spreiy  to  be 
a  warning^  to 'the  only  remaining  republic  in  the  world. 

Asa  moral  and  religious  people,  we  are  bound,  as  we 
would  avoid  the  just  indigri£.tion  of  heaven,  to  protest 
against  an  alliance  with  a  nation,  that  has  attempted 
with  fatal  success,  to  root  eveiy  >aentiment  of  religion 
from  the  hearts  of  men,  and  that  now  e^nploys  the  cor. 
rupt  system  of  the  Roman  Church,  as  a  political  instru- 
ment, a  mei'e  auxiliary  of  «tate  policy,  designed  to  rivet 
more  strongly  the  chains  of  despot*  sm.  As  christians, 
we  ought  to  listen  to  die  warni:*^-  •  "e  of  the  prophet, 
"  come  out  from  among  her  my  p  ^  ^  that  ye  be  ijot 
jiartakers  of  her  smsi,  wid  receive  not  oj  her  plagues,** 

Are  the  people  of  this  portion  of  the  union  prepared 
td!  encounter  the  miseries,,  the  privations,  the  lotig  pro. 
tractecl  distresses  of  a  British  war,  and  the  still  more 
dreadful  calamities  of  a  French  alliance  9  If  our  national 
rukrSy  deaf  to  the  voice  of  our  complaint,  and  unmindful 
of  our  most  valuable  rights  and  interests,  persist  in  their 
ruinous  course,  till  we  are  hurried  to  the  very  verge  of 
destruction,  shall  we  submit  to  be  thus  sacrificed  ? 

In  considering  this  momentous  question,  we  are  in- 
clined to  think,  that  such  is  the  attachment  of  the  New- 
England  people  to  the  union,  so  great  their  regard  even 
to  a  violated  constitution,  so  strong  their  feelings  and 
habits  of  order,  that  they  would  support  witii  their 
treasure  and  blood  a  war,  the  causes  of  which  they  de- 
tested. They  would  consider,  that  though  this  was  not 
a  war  of  their  own  seeking,  but  one  to  which  they  had 
been  opposed,  as  unnecessary  and  unju^,  still  it  was  a 
war  made  by  the  rulers  of  this  countiy,  for  w^hose  wei- 


1*7 

file  aiid  independence  they  feel  the  deepest  interest.  In 
t^  first  years  of  such  ^  war«  they  would  doubtless  fujrr 
pish  supplies  of  inen  and  money,  in  a^  g[reat  abundance, 
and  wiui  as  much  promptness  as  the  men  of  th^  souths 
those  wordy  persons,  vyho  have  so  often  declared,  that 
nothing  but  blood  can  cleanse  the  stuns  upon  our  action- 
al honour.  Such  men  would  make,  as  in  the  last  W4r, 
great  paper  pisparations ;  while  in  NewrEngland^  the 
regimepts  woula  be  full,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  and 
courage  in  their  hearts.  Kentucky,  and  Virginia,  and 
Georgia  would  be  daniorous  for  the  invasion  of  Canada 
with  New-£ngland  troops,  and  perfectly  willing  to  pay 
their  own  unarmed,  undisciplined  recruits,  who  staid  ait 
home  with  the  New-England  money. 

But  even  the  people  of  New  England-would  come 
to  a  pause !  They  would,  in  less  than  two  years,  fed 
more  keenly  than  the^  do  now,  that  the  war  was  unjust 
m  its  origin  and  ruinous  in  its  consequences ;  a  war,  in 
whieh,  they  could  not  with  confidence  invoke  the  God 
of  their  fathers  for  his  support  and  blessing.  They  would 
perceive  that  its  burthens  pressed  most  heavily  on  them, 
that  their  commerce  and  fisheries  were  destroyed,  the  pro- 
ducts of  their  farms  scarcely  worth  the  labour  they  had 
bestowed;  th^  taxes  increased,  while  ths  meanl  of 
paying  them  were  diminished,  their  sons  employed  in  a 
distant  service,  or  slain  in  the  battle,  and  their  bones  left 
to  bleach  upon  the  hostile  field.  They  would  be  deeply 
sensible,  that  the  great  objects  of  the  social  cofhpact 
were  defeated,  by  the  operation  of  such  a  war,  that  do- 
mesdck  tranquillity  was  not  insured,  that  justice  was  not 
established,  that  the  common  defence  had  not  been  pro- 
vided for,  nor  the  general  welfare  promoted,  and  that 
the  blessings  of  liberty,  instead  of  being  secured  to  theni- 
selves  and  thekr  children,  were  in  danger  of  being  lost 
forever.  Thus  oppressed,  exhausted,  and  alarmed,  de-  - 
testing  the  causes  of  the  war,  and  looking  forward  to 
the  fatal  termination  of  the  alliance  with  France,  would 
they  not  find  themselves  reduced  to  that  state  of  extreme 
necessity  which  always  provides  for  itself  ^    Would 


i 


i5 


!! 


tiiey  hot,  in  such  a  case,  feel  compelled  to  seek  by  the 
law  of  self-preservation^  their  safety  by  a  separate  peaee, 
and  to  leave  the  southern  states  to  prosecute  ff  war, 
which  ^ey  had  most  wantonly  brought  upon  the 
country  f  They  surely  Could  not  complain;  if  they 
feel  all  the  contempt  for  us  which  they  profess,  nor 
would  oitr  li^i^at  froLYi '  the  contest  in  their  estima* 
tion  lessen  the  probability  of  success.  They  might 
continue  to  indulge  their  animosity  towards  Great  Bri. 
tain,  and  to  fraternize  with  the  hordes  of  Louisiana,  and 
leave  us  by  our  accustomed  trade  and  industry  to  repair 
the  ravages  of  Sai  unniksessary  war,  and  to  fortify  our- 
selves against  the  arts  and  the  arms  of  the  real  and  dead- 
ly enemy  of  our  independence.  '  ■ 

For  ourselves,  we  do  believe  that  the  people  of  New 
England  t^ould  not  yield  their  necks  to  the  French  ydke 
without  a  desperate  struggle.  Like  the  Swiss,  who 
were  ensnared  b^  professions  and  deluded  by  prbmises, 
who  were  deceived  by  their  own  rulers,  who  had  be- 
come  the  corrupt  instruments  of  France,  they  would 
awake,  perhaps,  too  late  for  the  salvation  of  their  coun- 
try,  but  soon  enough,  we  trust  in  God,  to  escape  the 
Spectacle  of  its  ruin.  Like  the  Spaniards,  they  might 
be  environed  and  assaulted  by  their  allies,  treated  as  reb- 
els and  outlaws  :  but  like  them,  exasperated  and  driven 
to  madness,  they  would  not  spare  the  traitors,  who  had 
thade  i  league  with  the  common  enemy  of  mankind,  to 
ensure  the  destruction  of  their  country; 


C^  l*ietha{M  the  authors  of  this  work  owe  some  apolo^  to  the  pubiiek 
fot'  the  imp^fect  state  in  which  it  is  now  presented.  They  are  seniibie 
that  many  mlore  ikcts  and  arguments  might  have  been  added  in  support  of 
the  opinions  thev  have  maintained ;  but  a  sense  of  public  danger  and  the 
Mportanee  of  the  crisis^  have  compelled  them  to  send  it  to  toe  press^in 
detached  poisons,  without  alteration  or  revision.^ 


MOTES. 


NOTE  I. 


We 


have  said,  that  among  all  the  complaints  against  the  stand- 
log  army  in  the  Federal  administration  we  did  not  know  that  they  had 
ever  mterfered  with  the  civil  jfioiveri  or  been  charged  with  personal  inju- 
ries to  the  citizens—since  the  Democrats  h?ve  had  the  management 
of  the  army  the  instances  of  their  employmei.*-  ae;ainst  th(>  n»'^ple,  as 
well  as  of  abuses  of  power  have  been  numerous. 

1st.  Wilkinson  put  the  whole  city  of  New  Orleans  under  military 
law— he  seized  several  citizens  without  pretext  by  force,  and  sent  them 
under  guard  to  Washington^  though  congress  did  not  see  fit  to  sanc- 
tion it  by  suspending  the  habeas  corpus.  He  refused  to  obey  the  pre- 
cepts of  a  regular  judge  having  competent  authority  to  issue  a  habeas 
corpus.  JVeither  oi  the  persons  seized  by  Wilkinson  was  ever  tried, 
yet  congress  by  the  influence  of  the  President  refused  to  impeach 
him. 

2dly.  General  Dearborn  wrote  to  Colonel  Boyd  not  to  permit  any 
vessel  to  pass  the  castle  at  Boston,  contrary  to  lavo^  wl.  .h  he 
explained  by  saying  that  no  vessel  could  be  cleared  till  a  collector 
was  appointed.  The  truth  was  that  General  Dearborn  was  then 
collector,  but  it  was  not  convenient  for  him  to  come  on,  and  there- 
fore, arfmrt?rtm,  he  sliut  up  the  port  by  military  force.  Colonel  Boyd 
explained  that  letter  (after  a  great  clamour  was  made  and  a  memorial 
sent  to  our  Legislature,)  to  mean  that  he  should  not  permit  a  vessel 
to  pass  without  a  clearance^  but  that  he  should  have  taken  Mr.  Lo veil's, 
the  Naval  officer's,  clearance  and  fiermited  a  Vessel  to/iass. 

If  he  would  30  have  done^  we  say  he  would  have  broken  his  orders 
which  are  express, "  that  no  clearance  can  be  received  until  a  Collector 
should  be  appointed." 

Such  we  say  was  the  construction  at  the  Custom  House,  and  if  such 
had  not  been  General  Dearborn's  intention,  why  not  write  to  Mr.  I^ov- 
ell  to  that  effect  ?  Thus  the  harbour  of  this  Capital  was  blockaded  by 
our  own  military  force  contrary  to  law. 

Sdly.   Several  towns  in  this  State  and  Vermont  had  troops  quartci'cd 
m  them  with  the  avowed  object  of  overawing  the  people  and  enforcing 
an  arbitral^,  unconstitutional  act  by  the  bayonet,  when  the  Clril  P^iver 
had  never  been  resisted  or  oven  tried. 
A 


2 


4thly.  In  the  State  of  New  York  last  year  a  Captain  in  the  service  ot 
the  United  States,  preferring  the  sword  to  a  process  of  Replevin  enter- 
ed a  schooner  belonging  to  a  citizen  and  turned  him  out  by  military 
force.  This  was  done  not  under  pretence  of  seizure  for  braach  of  law, 
but  because  the  Captain  claimed  to  have  chartered  her. 

5thly.  A  lute  most  horrible  catastrophe  shews  the  danger  of  quar- 
tering a  profligate  and  licentious  soldiery  among  the  people.  A  Mr. 
Grayson,  of  Carlisle,  in  Pennsylvania  was  murdered  in  his  own  house 
by  four  soldiers  of  the  United  States  without  any  sort  of  provocation. 

There  was  a  tiiae  when  such  an  act  would  have  been  called  a  Alaaw 
crcy  and  its  anniversary  would  have  be  n  kept  by  solemn  procesuons, 
and  animating  orations  to  keep  alive  the  hatred  to  unprincipled  power. 
But  such  days  are  gone  ! 

Two  of  the  officereof  the  U.  States  army  were  lately  tried  8c  cashiered 
in  Virginia,  the  specifications  of  whose  offences  were  of  such  a  nature  as 
to  make  a  man  blush  for  his  country  and  shudder  for  the  safety  of  a 
people  whose  rights  are  exposed  to  violation  by  such  men.  How  in. 
deed  can  we  hope  for  any  thing  better,  when  the  army  is  commanded 
by  a  General  of  most  profligate  character,  a  man  who  is  charged  with 
treachery^  who  has  been  proved  to  have  squandered  the  publick  money, 
and  is  still  protected  and  encouraged,  who  encamped  his  army 
in  a  spot  where  he  must  have  known  they  would  inevitably  perish^  and 
where  they  did  perish  most  miserably  and  whose  character  and  conduct 
has  so  disorganized  the  military  establishment  that  fifty  oneoflicers,out 
of  an  army  of  two  thousand  men,  have  been  compelled  to  resign. 

NOTE  2. 

That  our  Gfovefntnent  had  in  eflect  no  reasonable  apology  to  re- 
ject Munroe  and  Pinkney's  treaty  is  evident  from  the  following  extracts 
from  the  official  letter  of  Colonel  Munroe,  dated  February  28,  1 808,  and 
communicated  to  Congres  by  the  President.  "  The  idea  entertained  by 
»  the  publick  is  that  the  riglits  of  the  United  States  were  abandoned 
'■'■  in  the  late  negociation,  anct  that  their  seamen  were  left  by  tacit  acgui- 
''  escetv  ctM  not  formal  renunciation,  to  depend  for  safety  on  the  mercy 
*'  of  the  British  cruisers.  I  have  on  the  contrary  believed  always,  and 
^'  do  stiil  believe^  that  the  ground  on  which  that  business  was  placed  by 
"  the  British  commissioners  in  their  pape  •  of  November  8,  1806,  and 
"  the  explanations  which  assompunied  it  were  both  honourable  and  ad- 
^*  vantaffi'ous  to  the  United  States,  that  it  contained  a  concession  on  ths 
"  part  ot  Great  Britain  never  be/ore  made  by  any  formal  and  obUgatory 
"  act  of  the  Government,  which  was  highly  advantageous  to  their  inter- 
'•  est,  and  that  it  also  imfiosed  on  her  the  obligation  to  conform  her  prac- 
"  tice  undei^it  till  a  more  complete  arrangement  could  be  made." 
'  Colonel  Munroe  pi*oceeds  to  state  the  manner  in  which  he  had  ar- 
vanged  this  question  of  impressments,  and  he  replies  to  the  objection  of 
tljc  Government  that  the  agreement  was  infurmal  only  by  an  argument 
\vhich  silences  them  forever^,  and  which  ought  to  silence  their  partizans. 

He  says  that  Mr.  Madison  in  liis  letter  of  February  3d,  1807,  author- 
riod  the  commissioners  to  make  an  informal  andvirbul  arrangement 
;>•:'.  only  Yi'ith  respect  to  impressment  but  every  other  subject  in  dispute, 


■'and  we  were  authorised  to  give  assurances  that  so  long  as  such  an  a;>- 
^iranffement  (a  verbal  and  informul  one)  s  ould  be  respected  in  prac- 
tice the  President  would  reccommend  to  Congress  not  to  permit  the 
Non  Importation  act  to  go  into  operation,  and  would  in  the  interim  sus- 
pend it." 

u  By  this  letter,  says  Col.Munroe,  the  arrangement  we  had  sanctioned, 
compridng  the  informal  one  relative  to  impressment  &  the  treaty  on  the 
other  topicks  vfererejucted,  and  in  lieu  of  it  we  were  imtructed  to  enter 
into  an  informal  underatanding  and  arrangement  of  the  whole  atthjcci^ 
and  as  was  to  be  fairly  inferred  on  the  same  conditions"— Strange  con- 
tradiction to  be  sure  ! !  to  reject  a  solemn  treaty  because  it  was  accom- 
panied with  a  written  but  informal  bargain  about  Impressment,  and  yet 
^rect  the  same  ministers  to  make  a  new  bargain  wholly  informal  on  the 
tame  terms  !  ! 

■  Well  may  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  declare,  that  they  can  sec 
no  disposition  in  our  rulers  to  settle  with  Great  Britain,  when  they  find 
them  rejecting  such  a  treaty  for  such  reasons.  Here  is  an  end  to  the 
clamour  about  imfiressment.  Great  Britain  has  settled  it  once  and  set- 
tled it  in  the  very  manner  proposed  by  our  government,  and  the  fore- 
going extract  from  the  official  files  of  Congress  proves  it. 

We  have  said  in  the  text,  that  Munroe  could  have  renewed  the  old 
treaty,  but  Jefferson  would  not  let  him.  On  examining  the  thing  more 
narrowly,  we  find  that  Jefferson  told  the  British  government  that  he 
would  make  no  treaty  with  them  during  the  war,  and  that  he  so  in- 
stracted  Col.  Munroe.  On  the  7th  August,  1804,  Munroe  thus  writes 
to  our  secretaiy  of  state,  Madison.  "  Lord  Hurrowby  asked  me  how 
we  viewed  our  treaty.  He  observed,  he  meant  the  treaty  of  1794, 
which  was  to  expire  in  two  years  after  the  signing  preliminary  articles 
of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  France.  He  wished  to  know  whe- 
ther we  considered  it  expired.  I  told  him  that  I  thought  it  had ;  he 
mi  it  seemed  to  him  doubtful  whether  the  stipulation  had  been  satis- 
fied by  what  had  occurred  since  the  peace,  that  a  fair  construction  might 
require  tioo  years  continuance  offieace  after  the  war,  which  had  not  tak- 
en place  in  form,  much  less  in  fact,  &c.  After  some  conversation,  he 
said,  what  then  is  the  subsisting  relation  of  the  two  countries  ?  Was  it 
such  as  it  hsd  been  after  the  American  war  ?  He  said  it  produced  some 
embarrassment,  and  asked  if  we  should  be  willing  that  the  treaty  of 
1794,  should  continue  in  force  till  two  years  after  the  peace  ? 

"  I  told  him  that  I  had  no  power  to  agree  to  such  a  proposal,  that  the 
President,  animated  by  a  desire,  &c.  had  been  disposed  tofiost/ione  the 
regulations  of  their  general  commercial  system,  till  the  period  should 
arrive  when  each  fiarty  should  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace." 

Singular  and  infatuated  policy  !  Postpone  arrangements  which  we 
most  need  in  time  of  war  till  the  arrival  oifieace  I — Postpone  arrange- 
ments with  a  belligerent,  pressed  by  a  great  enemy^  and  disposed  to 
make  concessions  on  that  account,  till  he  has  no  enemy  to  encounter !  } 
Postpone  the  treaty  with  a  great  commercial  state  till  a  pe^cCf  when  all 
commercial  powers  straighten  their  indulgencies,  and  encrease  their 
commercial  restrictions ! !  This  may  be  good  policy  for  Virginia,  but 
it  is  a  wretched  system  for  New  England. 


LokI  Harrowby  added  to  Mr.  Munroc,  "  that  though  the  trcatv  had 
cxpiredvthe  ministers  would  take  the  risk  upon  tliemselves,  though  not 
auihoriKed  by  latvlo  continue  to  respect  its  stipulations,  if  our  govern* 
inent  would  do  the  same."— A'v<m  this  firofiosal  was  received  with  cold 
disdain  by  our  cabinet ;  and  hence  our  citizens  have  been  left  without 
protection  from  1804  to  this  day,  because  Mr.  Jefferson  chose  to  post* 
])onc  any  agreement  till  a  general  peace. 

NOTE  5. 
In  1787  a  British  officer,  capt.  Stanhope,  commanding  a  skxypof  war, 
while  lying  in  Boston  harbour,  addressed  an  insolent  letter  to  Gov.  Bow* 
doin.  That  dignified  magistrate,  instead  of  a  vapouring  proclamation, 
forbidding  all  other  Bntish  vessels  to  enter  our  ports,  laid  the  affair  be* 
fore  congress,  who  complained  to  the  British  government,  and  capt. 
Stanhope  was  immediately  broken.  A  similar  case  occurred  with  re* 
spect  to  a  capt.  Loring,  during  Mr.  Adams's  administration^*— There, 
however,  a  public  ship  of  war  of  the  United  States  was  compelled  to 
submit  to  a  search — Mr.  Adams  did  not  forbid  all  other  Biitish  ships 
to  enter  :  he  complained  without  exciting  the  rage  of  the  country  j  and 
the  officer  was  punished.  This  case  proved  that  Great  Britain  did  not 
claim  the  right  to  search  public  ships,  and  ought  to  have  si^afied  Mr. 
.Tefferson  that  Berkeley's  conduct  would  be  disclaimed. 

NOTE  4. 

It  has  been  frequently  asserted  that  the  British  goTernment  had  in- 
flicted no  punishment  on  admiral  Berkeley,  for  his  attack  on  the  Ches- 
apeake ;  iand  our  government  have  insulted  the  British  cabinet,  by  de- 
claring that  it  would  have  been  foi*  their  honour  to  have  punished  him. 
All  this  is  founded  on  a  mistake — Admiral  Berkeley  has  been  severely 
punished.  One  can  hardly  conceive  a  greater  punishment  to  an  officer 
of  high  rank,  than  to  have  his  conduct  openly  disavowed  and  censured  m 
the  parliament  of  his  own  country.  But  he  was  still  further  punished ; 
he  was  recalled  and  deprived  of  a  lucrative  command  ;  he  was  kept 
for  nearly  two  years  in  a  state  of  obscurity  and  disgrace— and  although 
the  government  have  since  restored  him  to  command,  yet  he  has  suf- 
fered as  severe  a  punishment  as  would  probably  have  been  inflicted  up- 
on him  by  a  court  martial. 

So  also  in  the  case  of  Capt.  Whitby,  though  he  was  finally  acquitted 
by  a  court  martial,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  on  boaM  the  Cam- 
brian, at  the  time  when  the  gwn  Was  fired  which  produced  tl^e  unfor- 
tunate death  of  Peirce,  yet  he  was  kept  two  years  in  a  state  of  arrest 
and  disgrace. 

■\Ve  have  only  to  compare  this  conduct  of  Great  Britain  with  that 
of  our  own  government,  in  the  case  of  the  Capt.  in  our  service,  who 
last  year  entered  the  British  territory,  seized  a  school-master  in  his 
school,  under  pretence  of  his  being  a  deserter,  and  who  in  a  veiy  few 
months  after  was  tried,  and  had  his  sword  returned  to  him  with  honor. 

This  subject  has  never  been  even  mentioned  to  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, nor  has  it  been  used  as  an  offset  to  our  complaints  in  the  affair 


()f  the  Cliesapeake.    Yet  no  man  can  doubt  that  the  territorial  rights 
of  a  country  are  more  sacred  than  the  rights  of  the  flag. 

NOTE  5. 

That  the  public  mav  form  an  idea  of  the  sort  of  subserviency  and 
degradation  of  our  ministers  at  the  court  of  Bonaparte,  and  of  their 
disposition  to  flatter  him  at  the  expence  of  our  neutrality^  we  insert 
the  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Livingston's  letters,  published  in 
Paris.  Mr.  Lavingston,  on  the  36th  March,  1 804,  in  answer  to  a  letter 
of  M.  Talleyrand,  in  which  he  invited  all  the  public  agents  to  ceasure  Mr. 
Drake,  the  British  Miniater,  thus  replies,  "  That  Drake's  correspond- 
ence was  carried  on  for  objects,  whick  all  civilized  nations  must  re* 
gard  with  horror,  and  that  horror  must  be  increased  when  we  see  that 
itisaminister,  who  thus /lro«/^^u/^«  his  sacred  office  ;  when  a  subnl- 
tem  agent  commits  a  base  or  atrocious  act,  it  is  supposed  he  may  be 
actuated  by  personal  interest,  but  the  actions  of  a  public  minister  are 
generally  attributed  to  the  Government  he  refireaents.** 

Was  there  ever  such  an  insult  known  towards  a  nation  at  amity  I 
What  had  we,  what  had  Mr.  Livingston  to  do  with  Mr.  Drake's  con- 
duct ?  Was  it  for  us  to  step  in  between  France  and  Great  Britain  and 
condemn  the  latter,  when  we  have  quarrels  enough  of  our  o%on:  This 
conduct  was  most  disgraceful,  and  it  exceeded  in  submission  that  of  any 
ofthe  representatives  of  the  little  tributary  states.  Our  government 
were  obliged  to  disavow  this  language,  but  Great  Britain  delicately  ab- 
stained from  making  it  a  subject  of  public  discussion.  Mr.  Livingston 
however,  felt  the  effects  of  it  in  his  visit  to  England,  where  he  found 
tiiat  he  was  treated,  justly  treated  as  a  French  spy.  For  a  man's  heart 
must  have  been  wholly  devoted  to  France,  who  could  so  far  lose  sight 
of  the  honour  and  interests  of  his  country,  as  thus  wantonly  to  in- 
sult a  foreign  nation,  with  whom  we  were  then,  1804,  upon  the  moat 
frimdly  footing. 

Mr.  Livingston  not  satisfied  \i^th  tikis  abuse  of  Great  Britain,  con- 
cluded his  letter  to  the  Tyrant  of  France,  in  these  complimentary 
words,  that,  "  to  the  First  Consul,  in  the  name  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, he  tendered  the  most  sincere  felicitations,  at  his  having  hap- 
pily escaped  the  attempts  of  his  enemies,  directed  not  only  against  his 
life^  but  what  was  infinitely  dearer  to  his  (Bonaparte's)  heart,  the  happi- 
ness ofthe  nation  of  which  he  is  the  chielV 

The  American  minister  here  undertakes  to  assert  that  Mr.  Drake 
aimed  at  Bonaparte's  life  ;  that  he  was  an  assassin  !  and  in  the  former 
quotation  he  considers  it  the  act  of  the  British  Cabinet !  And  all  this 
too  in  a  case  when  every  man  of  sense  knew  that  it  was  all  Si  farce  to 
cover  the  dark  dedgns  of  Bonaparte  against  the  poor  remuns  of  the 
Bourbon  race. 

Thus  in  the  succeeding  year  he  played  the  same  game,  in  order  to 
sacrifice  his  rival  Moreau,  and  assassinate  the  unfurtuiiate  Pichcgru. 

This  second  conspiracy  was  the  pretext  of  his  assuming  the  Imperi- 
al Purple.  What  a  piece  of  fulsome  adulation  and  contradiction,  to 
hear  an  American  minister,  a  professed  republican,  tcU  this  sclf-erc- 


6 


i 


atecl  Consult  that  he  knew  that  he  the  Conaui  '^  had  mora  at  heart  the 
happiness  of  the  French  people,  than  the  preservation  of  his  own  life. 

This  same  Mr.  Livingston,  in  his  memoriul  about  Louisiana,  address- 
ed to  Bonaparte,  hus  the  followinj;  abuse  against  Great  Britain. 

«  I  have  observed,"  says  he,  "  that  Franco  and  the  United  States 
are  in  a  respective  situation  so  fortunate  as  to  have  no  points  of  coN 
lision.  They  may  amst  each  other  without  ever  beinj^  tempted  to 
hurt  each  other  in  :>ny  manner.  This  commerce  is  useful  to  both; 
this  union  of  aentimcnta  and  interests  res  s  upon  principles  which  ought 
to  form  the  maritime  code,  and  deliver  the'uniacrec  from  the  tyrannt 
of  Great  Britain,which  she  maintains,  and  which  will  never  be  co;n4f?r  ;•(/ 
with  success,  until  the  other  /jo  jwrr,,,  by  uniting^  will  abridge  her  means 
by  transferring  to  nations  more  tnoderatey  a  part  of  her  commerce." 
[See  Livingston's  Memorial.] 

Here  then  we  have  the  whole  policy  of  France  and  our  government 
fully  explained  siji:  yeara  ago.  It  did  nor  originate  in  the  mission  to 
Russia,  nor  in  the  Berlin  decrees,  nor  in  the  euiburgo,  all  these  were 
only  executions  of  the  plan  proposed  by  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Esq. 
in  1803. 

NOTE  6. 

NotwithEtanding  what  we  have  said  against  the  administration  about 
the  Boaumarchois  claim,  we  would  pay  due  credit  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  and 
to  one  committee  of  congress  for  having  most  decidedly  rejected  it. 
The  disgrace  of  the  transaction  probably  rested  with  Jefferson,  who 
shifted  it  off"  upon  Caesar  Rodney  the  Attorney  General.  For  after  all 
this  exiuuination  and  opposi  ion  of  Mr.  Gallatin  and  a  respectable  com- 
mittee, it  was  referred  to  Mr.  Rodney,  who  reported  in  favour  of  it,  and 
it  would  have  passed  if  it  had  not  been  so  ably  opposed  by  a  writer  in 
the  New*York  papers,  who  was  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  whole 
transaction. 

NOTE  7. 

It  ha$  been  said  in  the  text,  that  Spain  reluctantly  acceded  to  the 
cession  of  Louisiana.  Upon  perusing  all  the  correspondence  and  do> 
cuuicnts  on  that  subject,  and  the  President's  several  messages,  we  find 
that  she  did  not  even  accede  to  the  cession,  but  with  great  difficulty, 
and  has  continued  to  claim,  and  docs  claim  the  whole  of  the  west  Bank 
of  that  river,  so  as  to  reduce  down  that  mighty  purchase  to  what  Mr. 
Jeiferson  calls  a  '^  strip  of  Land." 

Governor  Claiborne,  of  Louisiana,  thus  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison,  on 
the  *i6th  Aug.  1806.—"  The  report  of  the  retrocession  of  the  West 
Bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain,  had  prevailed  at  New  Orleans;  He 
said  that  the  Spanish  Marquis  Casa  Salvo  had  told  him,  that  the  Min- 
ister of  State,  Cevallos,  had  informed  him,  that  the  desire  of  the  Court 
of  Spain  was  to  make  the  Mississippi  river  the  boundary,  and  intime  it 
icas  expected,  that  that  object  would  be  obtained." 

This  is  the  claim  which  Talleyrand  supports,  and  for  which  wehaye 
got  either  to  fight,  to  repurchase  it,  or  relinquish  it. 

But  we  find  that  we  have  not  only  got  to  quarrel  with  France  or 
Spain,  about  the  West  Boundary,  but  we  have  an  actual  dispute  with 
G. Britain,  about  the  north  boundary  of  Lotisiana.  And  this  is  not  the 


worat  of  it    This  dispute  lias  preTented  the  settlemeot  of  all  our  other 
boandaries  with  Groat  Britain. 

Od  May  19,  1803,  Mr.  Kiag  signed  a  treaty,  settling  all  our  boun- 
daries with  Great  Britain,  not  only  pursuant  to  instructions  general- 
If,  but  the  precise  descriptions  were  adopted  in  the  treaty  which  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison  had  drawn  up  and  sent  out,  with,  as  I 
hare  understood,  no  Tariation. 

When  this  treaty  arrived,  it  was  rejected^  without  any  other 
reason,  as  appears  by  Mr.  Madison's  letter  to  Munroe,  of  February 
14,  1804,  than  that  we  had  bought  Luuisiana,  In  the  mean  time,  au 
ter  the  instructions  were  given,  and  our  gov  ernment  thought  they 
could,  by  hunting  up  some  old  French  claims,  under  the  treaty  of  U. 
trecbt,  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  this  favourite  province,  and  encroach 
a  little  on  the  waste  lands  of  Great  Britain.  Unjust  and  absurd, 
therefore,  as  it  would  be  to  dispute  our  ozon  tines,  as  settled  between 
us  and  Great  Britain,  in  1783,  yet  they  preferred  to  set  afloat  all  our 
bouudaries,  rather  than  to  give  up  this  contested  claim,  which  Great 
Britain  will  probably  never  yield. 

When  the  treaty  was  sent  back  with  the  article  struck  out,  which 
Mr.  Jeflferson  thought  might,  about  two  or  three  centuries  hence,  af. 
feet  the  extent  of  Louisiana,  the  British  ministry  were  vexed  at  this 
quibble,  and  refused  to  make  the  alteration,  and  thus  the  whole  treaty 
fell  to  the  ground. 

That  the  people  may  judge  how  disposed  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr. 
Madison  were  to  grasp  at  shadows,  and  lofie  the  substance,  we  would 
rsmark,  that  this  dispute  related  to  a  tract  of  country  beyond  the  Lake 
of  the  woods,  which  will  not  be  inhabited  by  any  beings  but  bears  and 
buffaloes  for  five  hundred  years ;  and  before  it  is  peopled,  the  United 
States  will  be  too  vast  to  be  governed  by  such  a  system  as  they  are  now 
oDder. 

NOTE  8. 

We  have  said  that  Mr.  Adams'  mission  was  most  singularly  explain- 
ed by  cotcmporaneous  expositions  in  France.  We  do  not  ask  for  any 
uarcasonable  jealousy.  Jealousy  is  a  quality  of  a  weak  and  narrow 
mind,  but  we  are  at  a  loss  for  an  honorable  explanation  of  this  strange 
coinci'Jencc.  We  do  not  see  how  the  tlmperor  of  France,  in  October 
last,  should  have  perceived,  iu  the  apparent  equatihj  of  our  laws  against 
France  and  England,  proofs  of  a  growing  coolness  and  prospects  of  a 
sudden  rupture  with  I'ngland,  and  a  speedy  connection  with  Fiance. 
We  ask  the  administration  and  its  friends,  to  account  for  this  extraor- 
dinary appearance,  and  also  for  the  apparent  connection  of  our  em-* 
busy  to  Russia,  and  the  dismissal  of  Mr.  Juckson,  with  the  French 
wishes  and  views  ;  or  ure  ue  to  believe  that  France  is  disposed  to  ap. 
pro»e  every  thing  wo  do,  though  apparentltf  hoHlih  equally  to  her  aad 
to  Great  Britain. 

In  November  last,  Francois  dc  Ncufchatcau,  late  President  of  the 
Conservative  Senate  of  France,  published  in  Paris  a  pamphlet  on  po- 
I'tical  affairs,  in  which,  speaking  of  the  United-States,  he  says,  "  that 
America  will  make  connnon  cause  with  France,  and  the  northern  pow- 


en,  against  Great  B'itaiii ;  that  it  it  beyond  a  doubt  the^vredei  nin 
treat  witli  Deiimnrk,  with  llussia,  and  obtain  from  Franc*  an  obltvi. 
on  of  the  pant.  On  (heir  »ide^  too^  tho  United  States  approximate  as 
much  as  possible  the  powert  of  the  Norths  by  bringing  as  a  Jirst  giia. 
ranf«c  of  their  amicable  diiposition,  the  reuentment  wjiich  has  been 
prodnred  byi  tho  conduct  of  Kngland  towardn  them ;  that  their  aq. 
basKador  to  Russia  had  already  arrived,  and  that  (he  Arooricaos  will 
do  more — They  teiil  reject  the  British  minister^  Mr,  Jackton,** 

Of  the  importance  of  this  opinion,  and  of  its  correspondence  witli 
the  Kmporor's  opinions,  we  need  no  further  evidence  than  that  no  work 
can  be  published  in  Paris  witJiout  the  Emperor's  consent..  The  bastilc 
is  the  fate  of  every  man  who  daras  to  utter  any  politicoi  opinion,  cither 
unfounded  or  imprudent. 

We  understand  what  Mr.  Neufchatcau  means  by  aur  having  ap. 
proximated  as  much  us  posnhle  to  the  powers  of  the  North.  The 
French  linow  that  our  government  is  controuled  by  public  upinioa, 
and  that  it  is  not  possible  to  advance  by  direct  and  open  means. 

Of  the  authenticity  of  this  opinion  of  Mr.  Neiifohateau,  we  hare 
llie  evidence  of  the  Senate  of  France^  which,  in  an  answer  to  the  ISm. 
peror,  declared,  ^*  that  a  league  was  about  to  be  formed  for  the  cman. 
ripation  of  commerce,  and  the  independence  of  nationsy  and  into 
which  the  States  of  both  hemispheres  are  eager  to  enter." 

But  the  highest  evidence,  und  one  which  will  not  be  contradicted  by 
any  man  of  cither  party,  is  the  late  declaration  of  Bonaparte  to  his 
friend  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  dated  as  early  as  Oct,  10,  1809,  the 
whole  of  which  is  espied  into  oi^r  papers,,  and  eKpeeially  th«  Patriot,  a 
democratick  paper,  where  the  Emperor  says,  *'•  that  the  United  States 
are  on  the  xoorst  terms  with  England,  and  appear  seriouslt/  dispossd  to 
adopt  our  fystem." 

This,  it  will  bo  recollected,  was  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Jackson 
in  the  United  States. 

The  publick  must  decide  whether  these  extracts  do  not  fully  justify 
the  suggestions  which  we  hare  made  in  the  text,.asto  the  object  of  Mr. 
Adams*  mission. 

NOTE  9. 
Mr.  Robert  Smith,  Secretary  of  State,  having  been  called  upon  by 
Congress  to  report  the  cases  of  captures  by  the  several  belligerents, 
made  a  return  on  the  12th  of  January,  1810,  of  which  we  have  a  copy 
now  before  us. 

From  the  documents  transmitted  we  find  no  evidence^  no  case^  p 
complaint  as  to  any  one  capture  by  Great  Britain. 

The  papers  transmitted  are  marked  from  A  to  E  inclusively,  ao<I  on- 
ly contain  tho  captures  of  Denmark. 

A  statement  of  French  condemnations  by  their  upper  Courts,  is  also 
given. 

But  no  one  document  is  furnished  of  British  capture.  Is  this  off- 
ing to  ftnif  partiality  for  Great  Britain  ?  Is  this  the  character  of  Admi- 
nistration ?  No.  Wo  shall  shew  the  cause  of  this  omission.  Iti' 
because  a  statement  of  British  captures  would  have  shewn  hereon. 


9 


ihct  i»aa  adftaUgoous  point  of  light)  cotoparcU  to  all  the  other  bcl. 
llgireflti. 

The  reason  waigMd  by  the  Secretary  why  he  omitted  to  fUe  any 
aeeaant  tff  Britlih  oaptorot  was,  that  he.  had  a  very  in^petftci  aeeouni 
tfUum^  and  no  <||lMal  occommI  had  been  received. 

Let  ni  eiamine'theff  tw  rvu-om*  Why  !■  tJba  aceonnt  of  BritUh 
eaptvm Anperfeer  J'  hit  becanee  onr  people  aiPKfHUU|i  to  anbn>lt» 
without  complaint,  to  tlritiih  captures  ?  Are  their lktck#ard  in  trani- 
■ittiaf  them  ?  We  know  the  contrary  to  b€  ikt  /ttf.  AU  lir<tfi>  ci|p- 
twtt  ar«  mott  regularly  communicated— First,  baewHa.wa  are'  fully 
(li«poMd  to  And  fault  with  her— Secondly,  fbr  »mMh  better  reason, 
berause  we  have  a  hope  otr.'dret$  through  the  goveramnnt,  whereat 
we  hate  non(^  as  to  France. 

Astot^ie  otl^er  obj-^ction,  fiiai  niVt  papers  are nel  cM/ibN/foAr,  and 
therefore  the  See***  ta/y  ( veU  a  f^Mu  neit^  an  nnexaropled  tenderness, 
astoGreat  BrUfi<ii,  au>f  a  «lyiv->3i^ion  not  to  magnify  her  faults,  i|e 
obierTe  that  this  iti  ^'te  (i\%*  Xmii  tbey  eve.'  'raited  for  ant^.estflek doca- 
SMOU  to  found  coTRf  i:i«nt«  a,<;<''n<«t  that  naii^in,  and  the.Secretary  feds 
ao  scruple  in  giviitg  a  U9t«"  i'^'utisb  r^p».>j)»MS  cu  nnauthendck  docu- 
aents. 

We  shall  ^hcv^r  i've  trtrc.  rotfwnn  of  tU'j  a^yfcted  iViih'^ey  presently. 

As  to'Franr?;  v^e  haveorly  4  )ht  of  '^'Mia  rui^'i'iu  by  the  superior 
court— not  a  sinrj.'ii)  capture  i:>  tinUyd  ^(J9LiV^JI*v^  Gr.'a(  Britain  had 
eondMiiied  no  vessel  by  ti^i  ix^yM  cornu^  ann  thu'.rn' .ir<i  n^i  case  is 
lUted. 

Bat  if  th^  Secretary  had  ttauxl  UH2i:ih':rttt.rfi:  r€p:ifi:t' .^7  British  cap- 
tarci  he  would  have  b<?eu  obUg«td  to  stt.u  tiie  !on^(  list  af  jb'«'ench  cap- 
tures, which  havii  oMvwdtid  t!«.D8e  ri  (he  Mrhish  in  *hf  "Otio  of  thirty  to 
oae,  though  Fran««*  hjis  tut  i/^ore  tiiai^  e^nefifti'i^Ui  \mi.  of  tho  number 
of  cruisers  which  Gr^^'ttt  (^i'ifj^'.n  h&t, 

Anotherproof  of  thehonoraHeStv.r^tai'f'ii  frurness,  is,  the  manner 
ia  which  he  entitles  his  list  of  Freu-:f\  conrier  r> ..  Jons.  He  say%,they 
include  the  condemnations  of  France  i'ri  m  Ihcernberi,  1806,-  to  May,' 
1809.  In  ordcp  to  »rf(jf0'  thin  nirictly  tii,^  Ufttrally  true,  he  goes  back 
and  takes  one  si,-f.irh  <:»!•«  in  UOc*  and  acl  tbc  uest  were  within  one 
year  before  M^y^  If  09.  VV  hy  Utis  fraud  ?  Was  it  to  make  the  super. 
ficial  reader  leikv^  tSinr  th>o  .^i^re  all  the  captures  of  France  for  three 
years?  Let th<5  '  ublJck  judfe^. 

In  thi!>  liori'iltlft  Wnt  oi  Friioch  piracies  we  find  four  condemnations 
forttip  fume  of  uct  having  certificates  of  origin,  that  is,  for  not  hav. 
iri;  ou  tiie  high  seas  a  paper  which  neither  the  taw  of  nations  nor  our 
treaty  with  France  require.    ■  - 

We  find  seven  vessels  condemned  for  violations  of  the  decrees  ot 
Berlin  and  Milan ;  for  violations,  as  the  decrees  express,  of  Mockado 
—of  Bonaparte*s  paper  blockade. 

We  find  ten  cases  of  condemnation,  for  having  been  visited  by  Bri* 
tish  cruisers — for  the  act  of  a  Superior  force,  to  whi<ih  the  innocent 
neutral  did  not  submit.  -  ,,^..^<»,   ^,  v 

There  are  twenty  cases  of  condemnation  for  httving;  1i»gq  in  an  Ei^* 
0 


V 


iii! 


10 


giish  port,  thofugh  dur  treaty  guaraQj(eei  this  right,  and  though  the 
vessels  were  found  on  the  high  seas; 

But  the  true  reason  why  Mr*  Smith  did  not  chusa  to  give^a  statement 
of  Freoch  and  British  captures  reported  to  hi^  office^  may  be  best  un. 
derstood  by  the  following  statement  from  the  Philadelphia  insurance 
offices, 'i>y  which  it:  appears,  that  the  balance  of  Injury  would  be  so 
much  againsi  FranlBe,  that  it  would  not  do  to  exhibit  the  true  state  of 
facts.' 

Th«  lefsses  f  «portiBd  iu  the  insurance  ollicea  are  better  criteria  than 
the  returns  la  the  Secretary's  office,  and  if  all  the  offices  had  made  like 
returns,  the  result  would  have  been  still  more  favourableto  Grtot  Bri. 
tMH,  because  jhe  Philadelphia  merchants  carry  on  more  trade  with 
France  and  its  depondencies,  in  proportion,  than  many  others,  and  of 
Course  are  more  expo§ed  to  British  captures. 

^^  Kince  the  raising  the  embargo,  January  10, 1810,  (that  is,  in  nine 
months)  the  following  losses  by  capture  have  been  sustained  in  the  in. 
Itirance  Oiffices  of  Philadelphia  }V 

3y  the  British......  A-r.J^i..':V.-:*3uv'i'j^^^      Dolls.  30,m 

lOiOOO  dollars  of  which  has  been  restored, 

BythoFrench 158^430 

of  which  38,500  dollars  have  been  recaptured 
iy  the  British,  and  will  be  restored,  paying 
6,000  dollars  to  them. 

By  the  Danes....... 909,541 

Restored  by  them,         a4,5C0 

So  that  we  have  been  gainers  by  the  British  force  nearly  10,000 
dollars  on  property  insured  in  one  city. 

In  the  same  paper  is  a  list  of  captures  heard  of  in  one  roeeA:,amount. 
ing  to  thirtt/^one,  by  the  French  alone.  Yet  Mr.  Smith  gives  a  list 
•f  not  more  than  forty,  in  all,  for  three  years.  How  is  cliis  ?  Be. 
cause  he  excludes  alf  the  cases  of  seizure  in  port,  and  all  which  have 
not  been  condemned  by  the  upper  court.  We  were  led  into  a  mis. 
take,  from  not'having  Mr,  Smith's  reportbeforeus  when  writing  the 
toxt,  in  stating,  that  he  had  not  noticed  the  burning  of  our  ships  by 
the  French.  The  truth  is,  that  the  notice  taken  of  it  is  so  slight,  and 
followed  np  so  directly  by  ut  apology,  *^  that  it  did  net  appear  that 
such  acts  were  auth<^rized  by  the  government,"  that  it  escaped  us.  Tha 
case  does  not  stand  better  for  Mr.  Smith.  The  captain  of  one  of  the 
ships  burnt  made  a  protect,  nnder  oath,  which  Mr.  Smith  will  find  en 
bis  files,  in  which  he  states,  that  the  French  oiKccr  who  destroyed  hia 
ship,  sht^wed  him  his  orders,  or  read  them  to  him,  which  was,  to  burn 
or  destroy  every  American  vessel  going  to,  or  coming  frois  Great  Bri« 
tain. 

Neither  Mr.  Madison,  nor  any  of  his  partizans,  have  taken  any 
notice  of  these  outrageous  injuries. 

NOTE  10. 
We  have  referred  to  a  French  authentick  work,  entitled,  <<  Foli' 
tique  de  tons  les  Cabinets."    It  may  be  useful  to  give  seme  account 
of  iU 


11 


On  the  ieint9  of  t1i«  papers  of  Louis  XVI.  a  secret  bureau  waaditf 
covered,  cout<uning  (he  history  and  substance  of  the  secret  intrigiiea 
whifih  France  had  carried  on  with  Tarious  nations  for  nealrly  a  centutyi 
It^ppearfi  from  thesapapers,  that  France  had  rq^Iarly  kept  Vpa 
eerrespondence,  totaily  distinct  from  the  public  correspondfcQce)  and 
whicli  was  always  unknown  to  the  Ministers  of  ^pt.^»:,;  JHwrtf  ageoUi 
bad  been  employed  for  this  purpose  in  dtiferaiiit  in^umtcies^who  weri 
not  even  suspected  at  home  or  abroad.  HoweTcr  iuipicioiiS  the  world 
has  always  been  of  the  intrigues  of  France,  thjij^  ||eTer  bjB4.the  direct 
evidence  of  it,  until  the  seizure  of  these  papcrii  Whic^  wffc  publiah^ 
ed  by  anthority. 

Although  the  old  story  of  our  gratitude  due  to  Ffancfthas  been  late- 
ly dropped,  yet  as  it  may  be  again  revived,  and  as  there  are  not  wanting 
American  citicens*  who  are  weak  and  base  enough  to  praise  the  pro' 
fessions  of  Bonaparte,  as  to  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  and  to  pretend  % 
confidence  in  his  sincerity,  wc  shall  give  one  or  two  examples- of  the  up. 
rightness  and  sincerity  of  the  French  views  and  profossions  towards  us 
when  we  were  at  war  wih  Great  Britain.  They  will,  be  taken  from  a- 
memoir  of  Mons.  Turgot,  entitled,  *'  Reflections  occasioned  by  nr 
memeir  sent  by  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
France  and  Spain  ought  to  view  the  consequences  of,  the  qUarrel  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  her  colonies."  .^  i:  unn 

"  It  has  appeared  to  me,  says  Targot,  that  the  moH  desirable  dvent 
for  the  interest  ( f  the  two  crowns,  (France  and  Spain)  would  hd  that 
England  should  overcome  the  resistance  of  her  colonies,  and  should 
force  them  to  submit  to  her  yoke,  because  if  the  colonies  shall  not  be 
subdued  but  by  the  destruction  of  all  their  resources:,  England  would 
lose  the  advantages  she  has  hitherto  drawn  froi^  them,  in  peace,  by 
their  trade,  or  in  war,  by  their  force.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  colo- 
nies, though  conquered,  preserve  their  population  and  wealth,  they 
will  preserve  the  courage  and  desire  of  independence,  and  will  com. 
pel  England  to  employ  a  part  of  its  forces  to  prevent  insurrection." 

He  then  proceeds  to  give  reasons  why  France  should  not  take  an 
active  part  at  that  time  (April  1776)  in  the  war. 

<'  In  the  third  place,  for  the  decisive  reason,  that  an  offensive  war  . 
on  our  part,  would  reconcx/e  the  mother  country  {VM^lxaA)  with  the 
colonies,  in  giving  to  the  ministry  a  pretext  to  yield,  and  to  the  colo- 
nieSj  a  motive  to  listen  to  propositions  to  give  themselves  time  to  cou- 
selidate  and  ripen  their  project  and  to  multiply  their  means." 

These  were  the  motives,  views  and  wishes  of  the  French  statesmen, 
and  80  little  is  the  reliance  you  can  place  on  the  apparent  policy  or 
the  professions  of  that  cation . 

NOTE  11.. to  Page  87. 
In  speaking  of  the  jealousy  of  the  southern  demagogues  against  the 
commercial  states,  we  wish  it  to  be  perfectly  understood,  that  our  re- 
marks are  intended  to  apply  particularly  to  that  class  of  ambitious  men 
who  appose  the  federal  constitution,  from  the  fear  of  losing  their  per- 
tonal  iuflnencc,  and  who  now,. to  preserve  it,  design  to  culargc  and 


R           ^  i"i»l"H'll  ■'  IK  ■- 

'■  mA 

IiIm^ 

;;?'¥•■ 

fj-l! 

;  \  ;  il'?''li- ' 

JH 

:'■  ,,i'  I   %!  ijiii:  " 

■t     ■ 

I^HHpa 

1  ■■  ''■ 

9^R^B''I 

"J  ■           '  * 

BHHn^K  'ffi 

■4 

■•  V-J^W-i 

J          ■ .  '   -  ■ 

, ;  ■»'  ,  ■  {■   ^i 

^BB^m,}^ 

4  - .. 

I- 


n  !■■• 


I 


^ 


'* 


perpetuate  the  iafliMnce  of  UitlritatiBB.  1  Tifcsi:]Beaf!tiierefore,  uugt 
sod  wlU  oppoi^  evory  system  <of  poK<^,  knwef  er  faTarsble  ip  thecouQ« 
tty,  ^hick  takei  away  the  relative  im|toilaiiefr  of  did  ancient  ^ninioa 
of  Ifitglniat.  <Tlime  are  tbe>««P'iRllo  ac«  dipiinRped  as  ready  to  sacri- 
fiee  the  commercial  states  to  tl^  h.  |iMkMill^^^%>"  Though  they 
haveinspired  nnoy<^^peKhaps  a  majoiity  of  the  Soathj  with  their  dis. 
hoiM>arablefaiMi'«i||!||f«rous  sentiments,  yet  there  is  a  stftmg,  firm  and 
honorabit!  bti^-'p^^^-oi  talent,  property  and  influence  in  the  south, 
em  8tatosy.4|4i9  fo\\f  j|i|derstand  our  mutual  interest  and  mutua  duties 
and  who  hi^e  c^erfpHy  co-operated  with  the  eastern  states,  in  the 
presenratifHi^^  me  honor,  and  defence  of  the  commercial  rights  of  the 
country.      ■■■*^ 

NOTE  12.. to  Page  87. 
The  ostimaites  we  have  giveo^  of  the  trade  of  Virginia  and  Massa* 
chusetts^  might  have  been  extended  and  included  a  statement  of  the  re 
lative  amount ;  of  the  eastern  and  southern  States.  Bu^  as  the  result 
wonikiilunre  shdwn  the  same  disproportion  as  between  the  states  we  have 
named^  it  was  thought  sufficient  to  confine  ourselves  to  this  limited 
▼iewv'  :  '.'(''ijil^?:/- 

tivr  NOTE  13— to  Page  116. 

The  following  official  account,  which  cannot  be  re»d   without  pity 

and  indignation,  gives  us  a  view  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

Officers  sick,  114    ^     Privates  sick,  621 

absent,        '86  absent,  390 

dead,  16  dead  from  May  1,  523 


resigned,        51 


under  arrest,  8 

fitfordnty,  276 


under  arvest,   2 
dismissed,        6 
onduty,        138 
Thus  an  army  of  2354,  is  reduced  to  414  men  fit  for  duty. 


,  NOTE  14.. to  Page  119. 
It  has  been  atledged  by  the  administration  "and  their  adherents,  that 
tho  Embargo  was  necessary  to  sscure  our  ships  and  men  from  capture 
by  the  French  and  English. .  .It  was  answered,  that  the  Fremh,  though 
determined  to-scize  every  thing,  had  not  the  poteer  ^  .tmA  that  the  £n* 
giishf  who  alone  had  the  power  on  the  sea,  had  nottfu  disfoxiiionto 
sHch  injustice.  Now  the  experience  of  eleven  months  has  confirmed 
all  that  the  federalists  muntained.. it  proves,  undeniably,  that  the 
risque  of  capture  by  the  French,  on  the  open  sea,  is  not  2  per  cent, 
although  she  takes  all  in  her  power,  and  the  risque  of  English  capture 
is  not  1  per  cent,  although  shu  could,  if  she  wiere  disposed,  take  half 
our  vessels  on  the  ocean.  The  truth  is  now  notorious,  thatall  the  pro- 
perty definitively  taken  from  "s  by  the  English,  amounts  to  much  less 
than  the  property  recaptured  from  the  Freodh  and  their  allies,  or  other- 
wise  protected  for  us  by  the  British  Navy,  since  the  raising  the  Embar- 
go. The  records  of  the  Insurance  Offices,  and  the  registers*  of  Marine 
Iptelligenco  for  the  last  year,  amply  prove  this  truth. 

THE  EJ^D. 


sfore,  niugt 
> tkecouD' 
t  dDminion 
Jy  (osacri- 
bough  they 
t  their  dii. 
tf  firm  and 
the  south. 
itM  duties, 
to8,  ia  the 
igbts  of  the 


ind  Massf 

it  of  the  K- 
IS  the  result 
Ues  >ve  have 
this  Mmitcd 


rithottt  pity 
States. 

621 

390 

1,  533 

8 

276 


ty. 


terents,  that 
rom  capture 
•nehf  though 
that  the  En- 
Uspoxition  to 
IS  confirocd 
y,  that  the 
:  2  per  cent, 
lish  capture 
id,  take  half 
tall  thcpro> 
to  much  less 
ies,  or  other- 
5  the  Embar- 
rS'  of  Marine 


